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SPORT IN EUROPE 



*\M 



Nj 




9U /A 



SPORT IN EUROPE 



Edited by F. G. AFLALO 



ILLUSTRATED FROM DRAWINGS BY 

Archibald Thorburn, E. Caldwell, and E. F. T. Bennett 

AND xRROM PHOTOGRAPHS 



NEW YORK: E. P. DUTTON AND CO. 

LONDON: SANDS AND CO. 

MDCCCCI 



CO 



«V 



/c// 5~?g 



PREFACE 

1\ /T ANY English sportsmen have from time to time given us 
■^ ■*■ their shooting and fishing experiences in different European 
countries, and of these some few have assisted in the production 
of the present work. In no one volume, however, has a series of 
articles on the sport obtainable in the different countries been 
collected from the pens of representative native sportsmen ; nor 
indeed, as will be seen, has this been quite achieved in the present 
work, for in three cases Englishmen have written upon countries 
not their own. The remaining fourteen articles, however, have, 
without exception, been contributed by natives of the countries 
under notice ; and in translating several of these articles, and 
revising the rest, I have preferred, at the sacrifice of uniformity 
of treatment, to interfere as little as possible with the original. In 
consequence of this reluctance on my part, the reader will here and 
there find some little inequality of attention to the same details, and 
passages may in some cases read somewhat literally. Again, it will 
certainly be found that the various writers by no means subscribe 
to the same restricted definition of sport, or admit the same list of 
animals that may properly be killed for sport. An animal that is only 
trapped as vermin in one country may, however, be correctly coveted 



vi PREFACE 

for the gun in another; and it is above all things necessary, when 
surveying under such guidance so vast and so variously populated 
an area as Europe, to take the broadest possible view of sport. In 
two cases, by the way, the boundaries of the continent have been 
transcended; for both Prince Demidoff and Mr. Hulme Beaman 
found it impossible without so doing to present a connected and 
intelligible account of sport in the Russian and Turkish empires. 

Horn measurements have, where available, been given in inches 
or centimetres ; in some cases, however, the measurements could 
not be verified and were therefore omitted. 

The illustrations are either from drawings specially executed by- 
three artists, who have made these subjects peculiarly their own, 
or from characteristic photographs, with which the contributors have, 
in many cases only by considerable labour on their part, had the 
goodness to supply me. 

The very attractive series of pictures of sport in the forests of 
Letzlingen and Konigs-Wusterhausen reached me by special com- 
mand of His Majesty the Emperor of Germany ; and a pathetic 
interest will also attach to the two pictures of that keen sportsman. 
the late King Humbert of Italy, which were in my hands for publi- 
cation many months before His Majesty fell by the assassin's hand. 

To them my best thanks are due, as also to many other friends, 
among whom I should specially mention Mr. J. E. Halting. 
Secretary of the Linnaean Society, for advice while the book was 
passing somewhat slowly through the press. 

THE KDITOR. 
Bournemouth, October, 1900. 



CONTENTS 



INTRODUCTION . 




PAGE 
I 


AUSTRIA 


By W. A. Baili.ie-Grohman . 


17 


HUNGARY 


. * . Geza Count Szechenyi 


45 


BELGIUM 


. Henri Quersin 


75 


DENMARK 


. Baron 0. Reedtz-Thott . 


95 


FRANCE . 


. Paul Caillard 


107 


GERMANY 


. Baron Donald Schonberg 


i45 


GREECE . 


. J. Gennadius 


171 


HOLLAND 


Baron F. W. de Tuyll 


201 


ITALY 


. Count Scheibler . 


209 


PORTUGAL 


. Count d'Arnoso 


239 


ROUMANIA 


. Prince Nicolas Ghika 


261 


SCANDINAVIA 


Sir Henry Pottinger 


277 


SPAIN 


The Duke of Frias 


3°5 


SWITZERLAND . 


. Dr. Eugene Pitard 


333 


THE BRITISH ISLES 


. Lord Granville Gordon . 


357 


THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE . 


E. Demidoff, Prince San Donato 


3S5 


TURKEY . 


. A. G. Hulme Beaman 


4i7 


THE BALKAN STATES . 


. A. G Hulme Beaman 


435 


APPENDIX: SEA FISHING 


. The Editor 


449 


INDEX 




467 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 





FULL PAGE 




Red Deer 


Archibald Thorburn Frontispiece 


Hare and Capercailzie 




. Archibald Thorburn Faces page 19 , 


Lynx 




. E. Caldwell . „ , 


47' 


Red Deer Antlers 




. From a photograph „ , 


43 


» ' 




. From a photograph „ , 


52 


: :. 




. From a photograph „ , 


55 


!l I! 




. From a photograph ., , 


56 


Roebuck Antlers 




. From a photograph „ 


58 


» 




. From a pliotograph „ , 


59 


•: ■! 




. From a photograph „ , 


, 61 


„ 




. From a photograph ., , 


62 


n )) 




From a photograph „ , 


63 


Moufflon 


* & 


. From a photograph „ , 


67 


Roedeer 




E. Caldwell . „ , 


97 ' 


Fallow Deer 




E. Caldwell . „ , 


109 y 


M. Paul Caillard 




. From a photograph „ 


129 


Badger 




. E. Caldwell . „ , 


, .47 • 


The Emperor's Party at Letzlingen 


. From a photograph „ , 


, 14S 


» „ 


. From a pliotograph ,, 


152 


Bag of Fallow Deer at Letzlingen 


. From a photograph „ , 


, 155' 


Forest of Letzlingen 


. From a photograph „ 


157 ' 


A Royal Boar-spearing Party 


. From a photograph „ 


• 159' 


The Emperor gives the Coup de Grace to an o 


Id Boar From a photograph „ 


160 ' 


Bag of Boar at Letzlingen 


■ From a photograph 


162 / 


Bag of Boar at Konigs-Wusterhausen 


From a photograph „ 


16S 


Woodcock and Black Game 


Archibald Thorburn „ 


, 165 


Group of Greek Sportsmen 


. From a photograph „ 


173 ' 


Ferret 




. E. Caldwell . „ 


, 203^ 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



H.M. the late King of Italy and his record Ibex 

H.M. the late King of Italy and some Ibex trophies 

A Sardinian Guide 

Moufflon 

Count Scheibler 

Wild Boar 

H.M. Don Carlos I. 

Podengos 

H.M. Don Carlos I. 

Count d'Arnoso 

Great Bustard and Partridge 

Elk 

Elk Hunters and Elk Dog 

Ibex 

An Ibex head, bagged by Mr. Pablo Larios 

An Ibex head, bagged by Mr. Pablo Larios 

Trout 

Fox 

Otter 

Salmon 

Brown Bear 

Reindeer 

Wolf 

Pheasant and Red Grouse 

Mr. A. G. Hulme Beaman 

Mallard and Golden Plover 



From a photograph Fat w 


page 21] 


From a photograph 


214 


From a photograph 


.. 216' 


E. Caldwell . ., 


.. 218 


From a photograph 


.. 


E. Caldwell 


.. 2 4 ! 


From a photograph 


-45 


From a photograph „ 


249 


From a photograph „ 


250 


From a photograph 


25s 7 


Archibald Thorbum „ 


263 / 


E. Caldwell 


279/ 


From a photograph „ 


„ 2S2 


E. Caldwell „ 


307 


From a photograph ., 


3'4 


From a photograph 


319 


E. F. T. Bennett . 


335 ' 


E. Caldwell ,. 


359 


E. Caldwell . „ 


,, 36/ 


E. F. T. Bennett . 


„ 378 


E. Caldwell 


,, 387/ 


E. Caldwell . „ 


399 7 


E. Caldwell '" . „ 


„ 408 


Archibald Thorium „ 


419 


From a photograph 


432 


Archibald Thorbum 


437 



IN THE TEXT 

Four Styrian Keepers . 

Bringing home Stag and Roebuck (Styria) 

An Austrian Sportsman's Strecke or Bag (seven Chamois) 

Weighing Chamois 

Bringing home the Stag from the mountains 

Presenting the Twig .... 

Schwarzen See in Styria and Native Boat 

Red Deer 



PAGI 

•9 

22 

3° 

35 
38 
39 

4- 
47 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



XI 



A day's Bag on the Estate of Count Geza Andrassy 

Six types of Chamois Horns 

The Strecke 

A useful Sporting Boat 

" Mirliflore," one of the Virelade Pack . 

The Virelade Kennels . 

M. de Carayon La Tour 

A Pool on the Ellee . 

A Pool on the Ellee 

German Red Deer 

A Warden of the Royal Forest, Wurtemberg 

Cretan Ibex (from an old print) 

Crews landing the Nets 

Angling in the Bay of Phalerum 

The late Mr. E. K. Korthals and his Griffons 

Italian Chamois 

The Start for the Huts 

Glacier on the Piz Torena 

Shooting-huts in the Alps 

Haunts of the Chamois 

A Shooting-hut in the Valley 

Bringing in the Chamois 

"Spinone" 

" Bracco * . " 

The Marquis L. di Roccagiovine 

The Count U. Visconti di Modrone 

In the Campagna Romana (Macerie) 

The Castle of Bracciano 

In the Campagna Romana (Staccionali) 

Palace of Villa Vicosa (after a water-colour painting by Casanova) 

Senor Jacintho Paes Falcao 

Podengos 

Palace of Mafra 

After Quail 

Keeper's Lodge (Comanesti, Carpathians) 

Trout Lake (Darmanesti, Carpathians) 

Gamekeeper (Darmanesti, Carpathians) . 



>' 



PAGE 

5i 

64 
68 

93 
116 
118 
120 
137 
141 
152 
■63 
185 
199 
200 
203 
211 
215 
219 
221 
223 
225 
227 
231 
232 
233 
234 
235 
236 

237 
241 
246 
247 
254 
256 
264 
274 
275 



Xll 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



Bull Elk (Norway) .... 

Bull Elk (Norway) 

The Home of the Wild Reindeer (Jotunfjelds, Norway) 

A Norwegian Forest Road 

Wading for Salmon (Norway) . 

A Salmon River (Norway) 

A High-level Trout River (Jemtland, Sweden) 

H.M. the late King out Duck-shooting . 

Five Ibex Trophies bagged by Mr. Pablo Larios in the Sierra de Oj 

The Calpe Hounds on the Ferry 

The Calpe Hounds . 

H.M. the late King (Don Alfonso XII.) and his Shooting Party 

The Lucerne Harrier . 

The Berne Harrier 

The Argovie Harrier 

The Jura Harrier 

Rod and Gun 

Playing a Fish in the Lorn 

" Got him ! " 

Siberian Roe Horns 

Wolves 

Kirghiz Falconer and Berkut 

Cherif Pasha, A.D.C. to H.I.M. the Sultan, and Ottoman Minister at 

Turkish Hounds and Huntsmen 

Turkish Sportsmen ..... 

Group of Sportsmen ..... 

Bag at Chaoush Chiftlik (eighteen Wild Boar and two Deer) 

Peregrine Falcon ..... 

Red Deer Antlers from Pirdop (Rhodope) 

Red Deer Antlers from Koprishtitza (Rhodope) 

A Cornish Harbour ..... 

Cornish Bass Ground ..... 

Bass-fishing in the River Teign 

Biarritz . ... 

Tunny caught with rod and line by Mr. Pablo Larios 



Stockholm 



INTRODUCTION 



■ M 



INTRODUCTION 

A BIRD'S-EYE view of the sport of Europe, as presented in 
^ *- the seventeen articles collected in this volume, will afford the 
naturalist some interesting aspects of man's share in the distribution 
of game animals ; the lawyer may note with interest the outcome 
of various ideals of sporting legislation, and, in yet more cases, of the 
absence of that legislation ; and for the sportsman himself there are 
hints on the prospects of good shooting and fishing, free or rented, 
in the different countries, the distinctive points of several important 
Continental breeds of dogs, illustrated in almost every case from 
photographs specially taken for the purpose, and the consideration of 
peculiar and distinctive methods' locally in vogue with gun and rod. 
Among the greater game of Europe the northern elk and reindeer 
are just now the objects of jealous legislation that hampers at any 

rate foreign sportsmen in Scandinavia ; the chamois 

, -i i , , c 11 j i Acclimatised 

and ibex nave everywhere to be carefully preserved, and „ . 

Animals. 

the red deer must also be treated with economy and 
moderation. Preservation, introduction of exotic species, and reintro- 
duction of species that have become extinct in certain areas have by 
now left their mark on almost every side of the sport in a continent 
so densely populated and so exploited, that much of the shooting 
necessarily lacks that wildness, that absence of artificial restrictions, 
which is so attractive in other continents. Perhaps the most notable 



4 SPORT IN EUROPE 

examples of comparatively recent reintroduction are the cases of the 
ibex, reintroduced in the Graian Alps by the late Victor Emmanuel, 
and carefully preserved there by his son, the late King Humbert, and 
the restoration of capercailzie to several Scotch forests by a former 
Marquess of Breadalbane and other enthusiastic sportsmen. In the 
same way, German stags have been turned down in the forests of the 
Ardennes, Hungarian stags have been imported into Germany, and 
the ibex and moufflon have been made at home in the mountains of 
Hungary. Among birds, mention may be made of the Scotch grouse 
turned down in the neighbourhood of Malmedy, and of pheasants ac- 
climatised of recent years in various parts of Denmark and Roumania. 
Of fishes latterly transplanted in this manner, the American rainbow 
trout is perhaps the chief, though our carp came from Asia. 

Few aspects of the social progress of the closing century in Europe 
show a truer indication of the altered fortunes of the democracy 

than the game laws. Nowadays, even where adverse 
Game Laws. 

criticism permits their survival at all, they have no 

object beyond preserving the game for the sportsman who, by 
hereditary right or depth of purse, can lay claim to exclusive rights 
in certain territories. The game laws of the Middle Ages, however, 
took the form of preserving the privileges of the chase to the Court, 
nobles, and clergy ; so that the death penalty awaited the deerslayer, 
while even a first poaching offence earned the perpetrator a sound 
flogging. The opposition aroused by such brutal penalties has not 
died out with their abolition. In France, once perhaps the head- 
quarters of the chase, we shall observe the most complete volte-face. 
The Revolution was, of course, the beginning of the end, as far as 



INTRODUCTION 5 

game laws went, and we are now, as shown in the French article, 
confronted with the results of a century of licence that might have 
been anticipated from the period when, in 1789, the then Bishop of 
Chartres so intelligently foresaw the way of the wind as voluntarily 
to surrender his droit de chasse. In the British Isles, the strict code 
established under the early Plantagenets appears first to have lapsed 
under a succession of sovereigns little interested in sport, and then 
to have been revived in its worst form by the Stuarts. Whereas, 
however, sport has been hopelessly democratised in the Latin 
countries, some suo-aestions of the old feudal relations survive in 
Central Europe, with the result that Austria, Hungary and the 
German Empire nowadays afford the finest bags of both large and 
small orame. It would seem as if, taking; a medium course between 
over-severity to poachers and total abandonment of the game, our 
own game laws bear at any rate favourable comparison with those of 
any other European country; v jln France, on the other hand, sporting 
legislation has apparently been thrown to the winds, and M. Caillard's 
article is one long indictment of the present Government of that 
country for its neglect of the most simple measures for restoring the 
former wealth of rame. Other Latin states show the same eround 
for complaint. Count Scheibler condemns, in the same uncompromis- 
ing fashion, the privilege accorded to all Italians to kill game wherever 
they please ; the Duke of Frias sighs for the time when Spain's 
legislators shall realise that the game of a country, properly protected, 
is a source of wealth ; and Count de Arnoso opens his article with the 
(rank avowal that "in Portugal there are really no game laws.' 

Turning to other lands, we find poachers and poaching severely 



6 SPORT IN EUROPE 

handled in Germany, where the Association of Game Preservers sup- 
plements the effect of legislation by granting pensions t<> the widows 
of keepers killed on duty. Count Szechenyi is not the only contributor 
who pays a well-deserved tribute to the game laws of Hungary ; and 

in Switzerland there is a wonderful system of federal and cantonal 
laws, which it is to be hoped the framers themselves understand, 
since to the wandering visitor their contradictions are incomprehensible. 
In Denmark, on the other hand, there appears to be too much 
lenience, and in Belgium more is expected of the new sporting law now 
under consideration than can be credited to the old. Other altera- 
tions of recent date are noticeable in the Bulgarian game laws, strictly 
revised under Prince Ferdinand, and in Scandinavia, where, according 
to Sir Henry Pottinger, the guiding principle seems to be that the 
native sportsman shall enjoy as much advantage as possible over the 
Englishman, who spends his money in a country sadly in need of it. 

Another interesting comparison suggested by a perusal of these 

articles is the very different esteem in which the same animal may be 

held in almost neighbouring countries. Thus the hare. 

Popularity an an j ma ] f secondarv importance in these islands 

of Different 

Animals. (and Lord Granville Gordon certainly pays it no high 

compliment), is evidently the great attraction in main 
of the larger Dutch and Belgian shoots ; while the fox, shot as vermin 
in parts of Scotland — a heresy that would raise an outcry south of 
the Tweed — is in Denmark "considered the finest and most appre- 
ciated game at a drive." In like manner, the lynx, referred to as 
the most coveted game in Hungary, is in Roumania trapped merely 
as vermin. These favouritisms may in a measure, of course, be set 



INTRODUCTION 7 

down to individual taste, but the points of view of representative 

sportsmen are nevertheless of great interest. The Duke of Frias 

strikes the true note of this distinction in his reflections on the 

inclusion of eagles, vultures and flamingoes in his Spanish game list. 

Among the more detailed and interesting notes relating to clogs 

are those of M. Caillard on the famous Virelade pack, the property 

of the Baron de Carayon La Tour, bred from the ancient 

Saintonge and Gascony stock ; those of Count de Continental 

Sporting 
Arnoso on the Portugese pure-bred podengos, belong- D 0ffS 

ing to Sehor Jacintho Paes Falcao ; and those of 

Dr. Pitard on the distinctive harriers of the different Swiss cantons. 

Besides these longer accounts, however, something is said by the 

contributors on the Scandinavian elk-dogs, virtually the Arctic dogs 

of the Lapps ; the Spanish sabuesos, like our foxhounds, and alanos, 

a mastiff type; and the massive bracco, beagle-like segugio, and shaggy 

spinone of Italy. The indebtedness of the dog breeders in different 

parts of the Continent to drafts from English packs, as well as the 

laws affecting the introduction of dogs into various countries, are 

also topics of interest. 

The probable result of any search for peculiar methods of the 

chase unknown in this country will be a sensation of disappointment 

that the methods in vogue should approximate so closely 

Characteristic 
to our own. As, however, contributors were expressly Methods of 

invited to make a feature of particulars of such local Shooting and 

r 1 11111 • Fishing, 

practices, 1 nave no doubt that they nave given 

attention to this view of their subject. And the result, though less 

than some readers might hope, is not without interest. Anglers 



8 SPORT IN EUROPE 

will be amused with the Baron de Tuyll's account of a quaint Dutch 
method of catching pike, as well as with Mr. Hulme Beaman's sketch 
of Turkish sea fishing. Ibex stalking and the Sunday wolf-battue 
in Portugal, a goose-shoot near Seville and another in Novgorod. 
seal-shooting in the Cattegat. and coot-driving in the Pontine marshes, 
are all somewhat novel ; while there are many curious anecdotes like 
those of the Turkish sportsman who used to snap his snipe on sight 
of their eyes, and his countrymen who surprise wild bustards with their 
wings frozen and drive them in this helpless state straight to market. 



A rapid review of the principal sporting animals of Europe will 
show us how thoroughly the wide results of preservation are established 
in many parts of the Continent. It is doubtful, however, whether 
the basis of this protection could have afforded much useful material 
for the conference that recently met at the Foreign Office with the 
object of discussing measures for the protection of African big game. 
The conditions of the more southern continent are so different, the 
uninhabited tracts so vast, the native question so important. The 
giraffe, it is true, is in a measure protected by the fact of the dreaded 
tse-tse precluding its pursuit on horseback over a considerable area 
of its range ; but it is doubtful whether, save in the way of vast 
natural reserves, much can be done for the eland and other threatened 
antelopes. 

The following is a synopsis of the chief areas of distribution of some 
of the most interesting beasts and birds dealt with in these pages ; 

If we except the giant o//en of the Caucasus, as lying outside 
Europe proper, the finest red deer would seem to come from Ron- 



INTRODUCTION 9 

mania and Hungary. Count Szechenyi's figures in connection with 

the antlers annually shown at the Budapest exhibition of 

. . . Red Deer. 

trophies are in excess of those quoted for the deer of 

any other country in Europe. In the Spanish article, however, we 
find mention of a 33-pointer, and this again is surpassed by the 44- 
pointer shot by the Emperor of Germany. The Hungarian antlers, by 
the way, include none of over twenty-two points. Red deer are also 
shot in the Grisons and elsewhere in Switzerland, where they seem, 
thanks to timely protection, to be recovering from a threatened ex- 
tinction. Lord Granville Gordon is naturally enthusiastic over deer 
stalking in the Highlands, but in the rest of Northern Europe the 
animal seems of slight account, save in a very few preserves. 

The finest roe antlers also seem to come from Russia, the ielik of 
the Altai grivingr a horn that measures over fifteen inches. Those 

of Roumania are also mentioned as exceptionally large, 

., x <• Roedeer. 

and a fine series of photographs of roe horns will be 

found in the Hungarian article. The roebuck is a prime favourite in 
all countries, and the largest bags seem to be made in Hungary, in- 
stances of sixty-six selected old bucks in three days, and twenty in 
one being given, with the rifle, of course, as the correct weapon. From 
Portugal to Turkey, from Belgium to Spain, throughout the wooded 
portions of Germany, and down in the Balkan provinces, the roe is in 
great favour. 

With the exception of the aforementioned ibex preserved on the 

southern spurs of the Alps by the King of Italy, and of 

Ibex, 
the magnificent specimens bagged in the Caucasus, 

Greece and Spain must be regarded as the homes of this coveted 



io SPORT IN EUROPE 

game. The historic sketch of the fortunes of the ibex of Crete and 
Antimilos is full of interest to the naturalist, and sportsmen bent on 
more practical work will follow Mr. Larios in his exciting and success- 
ful stalks amid the majestic scenery of the Sierra Blanca of Ojen. 

The mention of chamois at once suggests Austria and Switzerland, 
and, as regards the latter country, Or. Pitard shows a welcome increase 

of the little animal, thanks to improved legislation for its 
Chamois. 

protection, and in spite of the great slaughter (1,700 in 

one year) in the Orisons. There would also seem to be excellent 

chamois shooting in the Alpine districts of Bavaria (though Baron 

Schonberg naturally assigns the palm to Austria) and in the Caucasus. 

The finest specimens in Europe come from Transylvania, when- Count 

Arpad Teleki secured a buck with horns measuring over twelve inches 

on the outer curve, and over four round the base. This completely 

beats any trophies from the Swiss or Italian Alps, or Pyrenees. In the 

last-named range, the izard, regarded by some as distinct from the 

Alpine chamois, but more properly accounted only a smaller and redder 

variety, gives good sport in the Picos de Europa. Count Szechenyi gives 

photographs and measurements of six large Transylvanian trophies. 

Attention has already been drawn to the greater reputation 

enjoyed by the hare in some Continental countries than with us. and 

it remains only to specify the hares of Flanders and 
Hare. 

the Ardennes, of Denmark, of Castille (where, as in 

Scandinavia, the peasants course them), and of Salamanca, where they 

are only shot. Not far short of half a million are annually bagged in 

the great shoots of Hungary, but indiscriminate coursing seems to 

have all but exterminated the animal in both Portugal and Roumania, 



INTRODUCTION n 

It cannot be said that the majority of sportsmen collectively 

pronounce very highly on the sport of shooting the brown bear. 

In the preserves of the Grand Duke Serge, indeed, 

Bear, 
it is regarded only as vermin and shot as such by his 

servants. The alleged danger of bear hunting is largely discounted 

by both Prince Ghika and Sir Henry Pottinger, on the ground of the 

bear's invariable anxiety to keep another appointment as soon as 

the sportsman comes in sight, though the latter writer relates a sporting 

and hazardous method of bearding the bear in his den in great favour 

with the Lapps. 

Of all the truly wild birds enumerated in the following pages, with 

the possible exception of the great bustard and quail, the 

_ ° Wild Fowl, 

contributors devote most of their attention to wild fowl, 

otherwise clucks, wigeon, geese, and the like. The inlets and lagoons 
of the Low Countries — once the headquarters of English punt-shooters, 
and still so in sufficiently'liard winters — seem to be somewhat shot 
out. As regards Sweden and Norway, Sir Henry Pottinger indicates 
certain difficulties in the way of obtaining more than a moderate bag ; 
but much, on the other hand, may be done in South-Eastern Europe. 
In the Russian article will be found an amusing account of a goose- 
shoot on Lake Ilmen, where one gun has been known to bag three 
hundred birds and more in a day ; and there is elsewhere another 
interesting description of shooting geese at Villamanrique, the property 
of the Comtesse de Paris ; while the Italian contributor gives particu- 
lars of a coot-drive on the estate of the Duke of Sermoneta, round 
the Lake of Fogliano. 



12 SPORT IN EUROPE 

The countries are arranged in alphabetic order, so that the British 
Isles occur somewhat far down in the list. The heads touched on 
by Lord Granville Gordon will be sufficiently familiar to readers in 
this country, but the following' summary of the chief matters dealt 
with as regards other lands may be found useful for rapid reference: — 

In the well stocked and protected Austrian Empire the red 

and roe deer and chamois are the most attractive game, but there 

are also lynx and bear, hare, bustard, and capercailzie 

TT Perhaps, however, the chief interest of sport in those 

Hungary. r ' 

parts will be found to lie in the survival of feudal 

customs and quaint ceremonies observed in the big shoots. The trout 

of a Styrian lake are also mentioned for the benefit of the angler. 

We find in Belgium two distinct phases of sport — the more costly 

sport of the preserved forests of the Ardennes, and the more modest 

and inexpensive shooting of rabbits and other small 

game amid the heaths of the Dutch frontier. In the. 

Ardennes are boar and roedeer, with a sprinkling of "red deer, mostly 

imported ; and hares, partridges, and incredible abundance of rabbits 

await the sportsman in the fiat country. Woodcock, duck, and wigeon 

are also bagged in fair quantity ; while for the angler, the Meuse and 

its tributaries afford salmon, trout and coarse fish. 

The conditions in Denmark are not widely different from those 

noted in Belgium, roedeer, hares, and partridges being 
Denmark. tt ' 

most sought after, with snipe in the bogs of Jutland, 
and seals among the islets of the Cattegat. The pike appears to be 
the only important freshwater fish. 

\\ ith a considerable survival of game in the few preserved portions 



Belgium 



INTRODUCTION 13 

of France, it cannot be said that the legislature is to be thanked for 

such sport as remains. There is fox-hunting at Pau 

France. 
only, but stag-hunting is popular with the best sportsmen 

round Paris and in almost all the departments. The snipe and wood- 
cock shooting in Finisterre and Morbihan is particularly good, and 
boar and roe deer are widely distributed. For the angler, Brittany 
is strongly recommended, though even there the want of legislation 
has been acutely felt by salmon- and trout-fishermen. 

Adequate measures of protection have made the shooting in 
Germany equal to any in Europe. Red and roe deer, chamois on 

the Tyrolese frontier, partridges, capercailzie and black 

Germany. 
grouse, with wild fowl on the lakes and seals on the 

North Sea coast, all give good sport, but the best shooting is, 

practically without exception, preserved. There are several packs of 

foxhounds in the country, and these also hunt the boar and carted 

deer. Fishing is, unfortunately, not dealt with in the article, though 

the trout-fishing of the Black Forest, and the pike-fishing in the 

northern rivers and lakes, would appear to be excellent. 

Boar, ibex, woodcock, and wild fowl are perhaps the Greece. 
characteristic game of Greece, and the fishing is chiefly in salt water. 

Rabbits on the dunes, and partridges and hares all over Holland 

give sport in battues. The wild fowl seem to be shot 

r Holland, 

out in many parts once famous, though Texel and some 

of the North Sea islands still give good bags. Hunting is confined 

in a mild form to Gelderland, the roebuck being the chief game. The 

angler will find only pike and sea fishing. 

The chief interest of the Italian article will be found in the writer's 



i 4 SPORT IN EUROPE 

account of the royal preserves of ibex and of the chamois shooting in 

the Piz Toreno, with some notes on Sardinian moufflon. 
Italy. 

Woodcock in the rice-fields ot Lombardy, and snipe in 

the woods of Sardinian and Southern Italy are also dealt with; and 

fox-hunting is described as increasingly popular in the vicinity "t 

Rome, while there are also staghounds at Bologna. 

In the Portuguese article, again, sport in the royal parks takes 

precedence. Wild boar are also hunted in sporting fashion in the 

serras with the aid of the famous podengos, and ibex 
Portugal. 

are stalked in Gerez. There are special wolf-battues; 

and partridges, hares (both shot and hunted), rabbits, bustard, quail 

and woodcock afford the sportsman varied amusement. Rod fishing 

is apparently undeveloped, but there are salmon in the Minho, anil 

trout should be found in all the mountain streams of the north. 

Bears, wolves, and boar abound in Roumania. The great red deer 

has fallen off in numbers. Bohemian pheasants have been most 

successfully acclimatised, and there are partridges in the 
Roumania. 

Dobrutcha. The plains furnish bustard, quail, and 

woodcock, and wild towl abound in the marshes ; but hares and rabbits 
have become very scarce, a result attributed to coursing. The trout 
of the Carpathian rivers is mentioned without enthusiasm. 

In Sweden and Norway, as in the two countries which follow, we 
have considerable mountain systems, with a corresponding preponder- 
ance of mountain game. The reel deer of leased forests, with the 

wilder reindeer and elk, are the chief sporting animals of 
Scandinavia. 

Scandinavia ; but there are also bears in plenty, seals 

and otters are shot in the estuaries of salmon rivers, hairs abound 



INTRODUCTION 15 

everywhere, and there are capercailzie and black grouse in the pine 
forests, ptarmigan among the rocks, and willow-grouse in the birch 
woods. Snipe are best in the Swedish marshes, and wild fowl, though 
nowhere in great numbers, are fairly distributed on the lakes and 
swamps. The angler is warned that present-day salmon fishing is 
a lottery, with not too many prizes ; but trout and, in lesser measure, 
grayling can be had at very slight cost. 

A country with very wild tracts and every promise of almost 
inexhaustible sporting resources, Spain suffers from want of legisla- 
tion. The ibex and chamois, however, still attract 

Spain. 
sportsmen to the mountains, and there are boar, 

bustard and red-legged partridges in the plains, quail everywhere 

at the season of their passage, and first-rate duck shooting on the 

rented lagoons in La Mancha. Salmon fishing is scarcely understood, 

save with nets ; but the fish occurs in the river systems of the 

provinces of Asturias and ; <. S,antander, and there are trout in all 

the streams of these provinces, as well as in Segovia, a tributary 

of the Deva being specially mentioned. Hunting is confined to the 

meets of the Calpe pack round Gibraltar and two other packs, harriers, 

at Madrid. 

Chamois and roedeer are the game of the Swiss mountains, and 

there is all manner of small game, fur and feather, 

Switzerland, 
in the plains, with water-fowl in the lagoons. Salmon 

occur in the Rhine and Aar, and there are trout and char in almost 

every lake. The distribution of grayling in the waters of this country 

is somewhat interesting, and the pike are particularly fine in the lakes 

of Zurich, Neuchatel, and Morat. The system of federal laws, com- 



16 SPORT IN EUROPE 

plicated by cantonal by-laws, is somewhat confusing, but the contributor 

has made much of it clear. 

Prince Demidoff has advisedly taken the Russian Empire as a 

whole, and the abundance of all kinds of game is. as might be 

expected of so vast and varied a tract, immense. The 

_ . " elk and bear, many kinds of deer, and wild sheep and 

Empire. 

goats, with the aurochs, are among the big game 
described. There are wolf-coursing with borzois, capercailzie stalking 
and drives of blackcock, and wild-fowling on Lake Ilmen. Falconry 
with the ber/cnt (probably, Mr. Harting thinks, our golden eagle) is 
also mentioned ; and the angler will find some account of trout in the 
Caucasus, grayling in the Ural, and salmon in Kamschatka. 

Transcending slightly, as in the last article, the boundaries of 
Europe proper, we find sport in Turkey treated from the visitor's 
standpoint. It resolves itself into the shooting of red- 
Turkey and legged partridges and rabbits in Marmora Island and 
the Balkan 
Countries. "^ Thrace, and snipe and duck at the mouth of the 

Maritza. There are stags near Strandja, in the Balkans, 

and woodcock shooting is particularly good in the Gulf of Ismidt and 
in Belgrade Forest. Boar and roedeer are also plentiful in these 
districts, but most of the shooting is rented. The angler may find 
trout and pike in the Scutari and Kutchuk Chekmedjee lakes, as 
well as very good sea fishing on the coast. Similar sport is suggested 
in Servia and Albania, and trout and capercailzie are among the chief 
attractions of Bulgaria, with bustard round Sofia and woodcock at 
Grublihan. 

An Appendix is given on sea fishing. 



AUSTRIA 



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FOUR STYRIAN KEEPERS 



AUSTRIA 



By W. A. BAILLIE-GROHMAN 



I" N a country where " new men," such as South African or 
-*- American multi-millionaires or wealthy business men, are. as a 
sporting class, as unknown as they were in Scotland thirty years ago, 
in a country where practically all the land is held by two widely 
separated classes — the nobility and the peasantry — it cannot surprise 
one to find that sport is still conducted on much the same principles 

19 



2o SPORT IN EUROPE 

as governed it in feudal times. Feudal days in Austria are not in 

the remote antiquity of bygone centuries, for, while in England the 
great social upheaval of the seventeenth century ended the last 
traces of feudal conditions, and in France the same occurred more 
than a hundred years ago, Austria's aristocracy was not shorn ol 
its ancient manorial privileges until much later. The great change 
worked by the Revolution of 1848 was not brought about by civil 
war or great bloodshed. There was no "reign of terror." no 
wholesale sacking of chateaux ; hence the relations between the 
aristocracy and the peasantry were never strained to that extreme 
point of class-hatred that made the French Revolution one of the 
most terrible events in history. Easy-going good-nature is a marked 
characteristic of the Austrian people, from the highest to the lowest. 
and this has also largely contributed to a survival of conditions 
without which sport in civilised communities becomes either im- 
possible or a farce. 

" Money does not talk over here," an American friend visiting 
Austria once remarked to me, when I explained to him why the self- 
advertising spirit created by newly-acquired wealth had so far left 
Austria to its medieval conditions ; and I think he was right 

Of the several resultant conditions, none are perhaps more striking 
to a stranger than the pleasant entente cordiale existing as a rule 
between territorial magnates and their one-time serfs, and the length 
of time that sporting estates remain in one family. From this springs 
the reluctance even to lease sporting rights to strangers. These rights 
are not considered in Austria as a ready asset whereby an annual 
income from ever-changing tenants should be raised, however much 



AUSTRIA 21 

funds may be needed. That changes in this respect are of quite late 
years becoming more frequent, even the Field, containing occasional 
notices of Austrian shootings to be let, is a sign of the times. Trans- 
Atlantic agricultural competition has sadly reduced the material welfare 
of many old families, whose forbears used to slay with the crossbow 
the antlered inhabitants of their ancestral forests, deer whose progeny 
are now being bagged by the Mauser repeater of some wealthy 
stranger. In such cases every excuse is to be made, but in view of 
the manifest advantages for sport which are inherent to long tenures, 
it is to be hoped that this old-time conservatism will not too soon give 
way to that commercial spirit prevalent in other countries, and which 
is in some respects antagonistic to a true conception of sport. 

To come to the incidents of the chase, no general statement con- 
cerning the mise en scene can be made. Too much depends in this 
respect upon the local features of the preserve where the novice 
happens to be initiated into^fie mysteries of stalking the roaring stag 
in the middle of dense woods, or tracking a wary old chamois for 
hours, if not for days, in the rocky solitudes of timber-line regions. 

The Stag, to speak first of what in the eyes of the majority of 
sportsmen is the principal prize of the chase, is shot in Austria almost 
exclusively during the rutting- season, as at other times 
it would obviously be a hopeless task to seek for your 
game in the depths of thick woods, for the bare hills of Scotland, 
which are so favourable to spying, are unrepresented in the Austrian 
Alps. This puts the sport of deer-stalking on an entirely different 
basis, and there is no need to make comparisons between the two 
modes of approaching the quarry. Each has charms of its own that 



22 



SPORT IN EUROPE 



can hardly be realised by the man who knows only one of the- two 
countries. I have frequently listened with some amusement to critics 
upholding in exaggerated terms the superiority of Highland stalking, 
ridiculing- the ''pleasure of creeping up and potting deer blinded with 
passion, whose instincts of self-preservation were so blunted that they 
would fall an easy prey to the rifle of the greenest novice. At such 




BRINGING HOME STAG AND ROEBUCK (STYRIA). 

criticism, those who have grassed a warrantable Brunft-Hirsch in 

an Austrian forest may well smile, for it betrays ignorance of a 
fundamental provision of Nature in the shape of sundry pairs of 
very watchful eyes, ears, and nostrils of alert hinds who at this 
season take upon themselves the task of watching over the safety 
of their love-sick lord. And how well they fulfil their self-imposed 



AUSTRIA 23 

task, all who try to circumvent them are bound to discover to their 
cost. 

Of one thing I am, however, certain, and that is that there are far 
more men in Austria who start out, find, follow up, stalk, and kill their 
stag, entirely unassisted by keeper or gillie, than there are in Scotland, 
where, if my informants are correct, this is quite the exception. 
Indeed, after questioning scores of Scotch stalkers, I have heard of 
only two men who are known to do this. That the pleasure of 
succeeding in this by no means outrageously difficult task is very 
much greater than when one is led up by one's own skilled servant, 
who does practically everything but pull the trigger, goes, I think, 
without saying ; and it has always surprised me why otherwise really 
keen sportsmen show such little ambition to master the art for which 
they profess such attachment. 

Of chamois shooting, to take the next important animal of the 

chase, I am proposing presently to speak at greater length, for, as 

it is the sport for which Austria is most famous, I am 

Chamois, 
tempted to devote to it more space than to fur and 

feather. Concerning these, I propose to note only those details in 
which Austrian sport differs from that known to every English sports- 
man. Perhaps the most striking difference is the much higher regard 
in which the roe-deer is held, and the care that is expended upon 
preserving it, and, on larger estates, on the improvement of the heads. 
Roe stalking with the rifle in early summer is a favourite form 
of sport, and being the earliest in the year, its votaries are, after an 
enforced rest of many months, filled with the greatest zeal. Roedeer 
are not supposed to be shot with the gun except in such localities. 



24 SPORT IN EUROPE 

or on such occasions, where the use of the rifle is absolutely dangerous, 

viz., at large drives in a perfectly tlat country where a great number 

of persons are about. Even then good sportsmen turn 
Roedeer. 

away their heads, so to speak, when they pull trigger, 

for this graceful little deer is considered to be worthy of the more 

sporting arm with which the stag or the chamois is brought down. 

Close upon 70,000 roedeer are annually shot in Austria alone, not 

counting Hungary at all. where, as another contributor to this work 

will probably show, they are found with even finer heads and of larger 

body than in the less propitious sub-alpine country west of it, though, 

as a matter of fact, one finds roedeer often at considerable elevations 

sharing the succulent alpine pasturage of the chamois. In such 

regions, however, the first severe winter will wipe out the majority 

of the stock, for roedeer arc by no means as hardy as the chamois, 

which manages to live through terrific winters. 

Another kind of sport, which can be indulged in during the 
fortnight or three weeks of the roedeer's rut in August, is "calling." 
For this purpose the sportsman imitates the doe's bleat, thus attracting 
the amorous buck to approach his hiding-place Roe, as everyone 
knows, dwell principally in more or less dense underwood, and. as 
dogs should never be used in their chase, their practice of breaking 
back, or taking ringing runs, when beaters are put into their thickets, 
necessitates tactics quite different from those employed in the chase 
of other game. 

Blackcock and capercailzie shooting in spring is another very 
favourite sport, and one which Englishmen should enjoy ere they 
condemn it as "potting birds sitting in trees": for I am quite sure 



AUSTRIA 



25 



that the majority of Scotch stags are killed at the expenditure of 

very considerably less trouble and fatigue than have to be faced 

by the man who wants to succeed in stalking the wily 

blackcock or capercailzie in the mountainous regions Blackcock 

and 
of Austria. I use the word " stalking " as the only Capercailzie 

one that fitly describes this sport, which briefly consists 

in approaching the cock-bird in the dawn of morning as he sits 

on one of the top branches of a pine or fir tree singing his very 

peculiar love ditty. The tree is high up on the mountain -side, 

probably close to timber-line, and as the bird becomes mute half an 

hour or so before the sun rises, and is gifted with the keenest sense 

of hearing, the sportsman has to leave his bed soon after midnight, 

and, after a two or three hours' climb up steep slopes in the dark, 

often through deep snow, must reach the vicinity of the tree selected 

by the cock as a mating place before the first signs of dawn are 

tino'ing' the horizon. As-s^on as it is light enough to see the end 

of the gun-barrel, the fun of the stalk commences. 

Both the birds whose habits I am describing, mate in the early 

part of spring ; in sub-alpine regions in the last week of March and 

first half of April, in higher regions up to the middle of May. The 

males of both exhibit during this period a bellicose chivalry and 

amorous excitement, which gives the stalker the chance to approach 

them (hens are never shot) even in the densest woods, for they not 

only betray their whereabouts by their singular love ''triller," but 

exhibit, during a second or two when the paroxysm of excitement 

evoked by their " song " is at the highest, absolute deafness and 

partial blindness. Thus, during one particular note, a shot can be 



26 SPORT IN EUROPE 

fired in close proximity without disturbing the bird that utters it. 
The instant this note, called the sckleifer (or "whetter," as one 

might call it from its resemblance to the sound made l>y die use 
of a whetstone), has been uttered, the extremely keen sight and 
hearing of the bird come again into full play, and the sportsman 
must, for this reason, make his final approach to the point near 
the tree from which he can see the bird darkly outlined against tin 
sky, during the very brief intervals marked by this note. The 
shooting itself is, of course, nothing, though, as a matter of fact, 
I have known of some first-class English shots missing not one cock, 
but several, under precisely such easydooking circumstances. 1 he 
sport consists, of course, in successfully effecting the approach to 
within gun-range. In the dark forest objects are but dimly outlined ; 
dead branches litter the ground; fallen trees have to be climbed 
over ; and though the distance may be only a couple of hundred yards 
or so (for it is best to await the break of day as close to the 
balzplatz or mating-place as the lay of the ground will allow you 
to get without disturbing your quarry), yet these ami other obstacles 
increase the difficulty of effecting a perfectly silent approach. The 
breaking of a twig underneath your feet, the cracking of a branch, 
upon which in the semi-darkness you have rested your hand. 
or the disturbing of one of the hen-birds — members of the cock's 
harem — are sufficient to alarm the bird, keenly listening not onlj 
for noises that betray the presence of danger, but also lor the call 
of other love-sick males, with whom he is ever ready to enter into 
mortal combat. 

Anspringen, as the Austrians call the final approach, is. as ran 



AUSTRIA 27 

be seen from the foregoing, not quite so easy as it may seem, and 
for anyone tempted to undertake it without the guidance of a keeper 
some failures to start with will assuredly prove it so. But, once he 
has mastered the science, the sportsman will probably call it one of 
the most exciting sports obtainable in Europe. One (rarely two) 
blackcock or capercailzie will be the morning's bag, and for them 
it is necessary to work hard and rough it to an extent that makes 
success very sweet. 

Some 5,000 capercailzie and more than 9,000 blackcocks are shot 
annually in Austria in this manner, the venerable Emperor being still 
a keen lover of this sport, a journey of many hours by rail from 
his capital, followed by a long tramp to his simply-constructed 
Jagdhiitte, lost in the solitude of some favourite forest, being the 
preliminaries of this nocturnal sport. Blackcock frequent higher 
regions than does the larger capercailzie, and in some parts of 
Tyrol and Styria the pursuit of the former entails real hardship if 
bad weather — sleet and snoW and cutting winds — increase the diffi- 
culties incidental to this sport. But to the lover of the Hahnbah 
they lend additional zest, and he is oblivious to the ludicrous 
features of leaving his bed three or four hours before dawn, 
scrambling up a steep mountain-side by the light of a tiny lantern, 
sitting for an hour underneath a dripping tree, his whole body 
first aglow with the exertion, then a-tremble with cold, listening 
to the guttural "clucks" of an invisible fowl perched on one of 
the countless trees that surround him on every side, while he 
anxiously awaits the first signs of daylight, by which he finallx 
hopes to bring down the love-lorn bird. 



28 SPORT IN EUROPE 

Of other fowl and small game in Austria I propose to sa) but 
little, and shall only touch upon those features in which the sport 
differs from that of the British Islands. That the 
quantity of hares, as well as of partridges, in Bohemia, 
Moravia, and Lower Austria is very great is probably known to most. 
The million and a half of the former and upwards ol a million ot the 
latter which are annually bagged in Austria (exclusive of Hungary) 
give good sport to those who cannot afford the more expensive 
Hochjagd (stag and chamois). Of hares, thousands are often hilled 
in one clay on the immense estates of the wealthy Bohemian aristoc- 
racy. On such occasions social distinctions arc in so far forgotten 
that persons of humbler rank, such as minor government officials, 
professional men, and respectable tradesmen from neighbouring towns 
or villages are invited to share in the sport, the seigneur's own house- 
party being, however, not brought into personal contact with them. 
For it is considered good policy to give men of local standing, who 
have a voice in the shaping not only of public opinion, but also of 
regulations connected with the preserving of game, a personal interest 
in the sport of the country. Such hare drives — the Kesseltreiben — 
by means of which these great bags are usually made, are conducted 
on the following easily understood principles. A huge circle is 
formed, varying in size according to the number of guns, a beater 
or two being stationed beside each gun. At a given horn signal, 
the whole body moves slowly forward, walking up the hares, the 
fun becoming fast and furious as the encircling line gradually 
concentrates. When the diameter has so narrowed that Bring in- 
wards becomes dangerous, another signal to halt is sounded, and 



AUSTRIA 



29 



from that moment the guns may fire only outward at hares that 
have passed through the chain. 

Pheasants are not preserved to the same extent as in England, 
and "hot corner" sport is rather looked down upon as being a 
mere slaughter of hand-reared, half-tame birds. 

To turn to larger game, such as wild boar and bear, none of 

the former are to be found in Austria outside of parks. Of bear a 

certain number is still annually killed in Austria proper, 

Bear. 
some thirty or forty being generally accounted for every 

year in Tyrol and along the southern frontiers of the empire. In 

Transylvania, Hungary and Bosnia they are comparatively numerous, 

to judge by the useful game statistics which a paternal government 

takes pains to make as correct as possible. 

For chamois and deer preserves, to return to that subject, we 

have to look on the northern slopes of the Alps, for on the southern 

flanks the absence of timber\and the greater summer 

■ i * - 

heat are fatal disadvantages. ' Thev are, it is perhaps , _ 

& ' r r anc j £) eer . 

needless to point out, subject to certain climatic risks 
which a would-be tenant must not lose sight of. Bad winters, and 
more particularly heavy falls of snow in the spring, entail often great 
losses, especially in the case of red deer. I have known isolated 
instances where preserves have not quite recovered for eight or ten 
years. Sometimes the fall of snow is so heavy that, even if stacks 
of mountain hay are provided, the enfeebled animals are unable to 
reach these havens of refuge, and simply starve to death. Another, 
but remoter, danger is the rot which chamois catch from the sheep 
so afflicted. Sheep are often sent up to the high pasturages on, or 



3 o SPORT IN EUROPE 

above, timber-line, hence this disease, having once gained a footing 

in a preserve, must run its course, leaving the head ol game reduced 
by a third or even by a half. 

Poaching is another danger to which some shoots arc more 
exposed than others, for if the ground is surrounded on .ill sides by 
shoots that are carefully preserved, the risks are far less than when 




\\ AUSTRIAN SPORT! 



some peasant or commune shooting marches with it. Chamois poachers 
in Austria are not of the milk-and-water type, but sturdy mountaineers, 
in whose breasts the passion for this dangerous sport is irrepressible, 
so that they fearlessly risk their liberty, if not their lives, to attain 
their end. Thus man) - a life is sacrificed by this mountain vendetta, 
it becoming often absolutely necessary to dismiss a keeper who has 



AUSTRIA 31 

been particularly successful in bringing poachers to justice, in order 
to prevent murder being done. In such cases an exchange is effected 
with some friend's keeper, so as to remove him as far as possible from 
the scene of the operations of his revengeful antagonists. 

A word must here be said about game-laws and the legal powers 
and appointment of keepers. In Austria no person who does not 
own 200 Jock, or 287 acres, in one piece, can exercise the right of 
shooting. Smaller holdings are joined, and the shooting rights are 
let by the commune for periods of not less than five or seven years 
at public auction, the details of which must be advertised for a certain 
length of time. 

Keepers, before they can be appointed with power to apprehend 

poachers and, if necessary, to make use of their rifle, must receive 

a permit from the Bezirkskauptmannschaft or District 

Keepers. 
Court. They have to take an oath of office and pass 

certain elementary examinations. If they are foresters as well as 

keepers, the examination is ' a more difficult one, for forestry is a 

regular profession, and the Government employs many thousands 

not only to look after the woods and forests of the Crown, but also 

to supervise private timber-land. Thus, no one is allowed to fell 

in any year more than a certain small proportion, the injudicious 

wholesale clearing of mountain -sides having been followed in many 

mountainous provinces by fearfully destructive floods. Hence the 

proper administration of the forest laws is of great importance lor 

the well-being of alpine communities. 

Not all mountain preserves offer the same facilities for red deer 

and chamois, for in those forests (to use the word in the Highland 



32 SPORT IN EUROPE 

sense) where there is poor shelter, and where the ground i-^ either 

very steep or elevated, stags form but a small percentage of the 

hag. In a certain shoot, which some friends and I rented in Styria, 

we killed over 240 chamois in the four seasons ; but only a few stags 

were obtained, though we might have killed a larger number had we 

not been bound by our lease to kill nothing under eight-pointers. 

Our four keepers, of whom a portrait in their " Sundaj best" 

stands at the head of this article, were good specimens of Styrian 

J'dgers — good cragsmen, untiring and dependable 
Jaegers. 

fellows, who knew every inch of the ground as well 

as they did the wiles and habits of the nimble game, in the daily 

watching of which they spend their lives. Men of this stamp are 

children of the mountains among which they were born. Many of 

them have never seen a town of any size, and life outside the solitude 

of their mountain-girt homes is full of puzzling mysteries. When the 

Emperor of Austria's jubilee was held two years ago in Vienna, the 

parade of some 7,000 keepers and foresters drawn from all parts of the 

conglomeration of provinces and dressed in their national costume, 

formed the most strikingly picturesque and, considering the aged 

monarch's passionate love for the chase, also exceedingly appropriate 

incident in the vast gathering. Our four keepers, in the dress in 

which we see them in the photograph, formed part of the Styrian 

contingent, and, though their stay in the bewildering mazes of the 

gay capital was necessarily only of the briefest, the adventures 

that befell them were, as naively related by the unsophisticated 

sons of the mountains, most amusing. 

Of stalking in the Scotch sense, i.e., of first spying out your ground 



AUSTRIA 33 

and then, if necessary, creeping up over open slopes where cover is 

painfully scarce, they know little or nothing ; for chamois ground does 

not lend itself as a rule to the employment of such 

tactics. Sharp ridses, deep groroes, the sides of which _, 

r & r & & > Shooting. 

are dotted over with groves of latchen, or dwarf pine, 
or quite exposed grass-slopes of amazing steepness ; or again, Kaare, 
i.e., semicircular corries set at the steepest angles and consisting of 
rocky ddbris, which can be approached only from above — these form 
the usual scene of stalks. Compared with the limestone peaks of 
many parts of Tyrol or Salzburg, many of the Styrian preserves 
are easy ground, and any fair walker accustomed to hill -climbing 
can aspire to become a chamois -stalker in ground of the latter 
description. What generally puzzles the novice, even in easy pre- 
serves, is the fact that without practice his shooting will be wild. 
The man leading the way will climb his slow-looking, but really 
fast, pace, the long stride, Tirmly-set, heavily-shod foot which never 
slips, the lungs that day after day, year after year, are accustomed 
to ascend slopes set at sixty degrees with the same perfect ease 
as were they level ground, the bare knees that leave unhampered 
muscles of steel, these — as well as the at first rather trying mountain 
air, will combine to show the importance of training when, after the 
first spurt of 2,000 feet, the two men come to a halt. A brow hardly 
clammy, lungs and heart that go their steady beat, a hand that were 
it called into play would show no tremor, compare favourably with 
the streaming pores, hard-pressed lungs, throbbing heart, and hands 
that would fail to hold the sights of the rifle on a haystack at a 
distance of fifty yards. 



34 



SPORT IN EUROPH 



And just such quick shots arc of frequent occurrence, for when one 
has once reached ground frequented by chamois, any sudden turn, or 
the topping of ever so slight a ridge, may display a solitary old buck 
taking his morning ramble ere he seeks his shady couch during tin- 
hot hours of the day. Then comes that moment of supreme agitation, 
when the keeper, now also trembling with excitement (for he has seen 
at the first glance that it is the buck of the glen, possessor of rare 
io-inch horns), will grab one by the arm and hiss, " Shoot, shoot ; it's 
the big buck — shoot!" into one's ear.* And shoot you do, and shoot. 
and shoot, until the five cartridges in the magazine of your Mannlicher 
or Mauser repeater have drilled holes in the air somewhere near the 
chamois, but, alas! never a hair of that waving, much-prized "beard' 
(the ridge of long hair growing along the backbone of old bucks) will 
grace your hat a la Tyrolese. And, sooth to say, what else but a 
miracle could have guided that fleetly-speeding, nickel-coated bullet 
into that small, rapidly-moving mark, for was not the hand that clutched 
the rifle "all over the place"? Far better one had lain low till the 
buck was out of sight, and then, after a breathing spell to compose 
nerves and lungs, continued the stalk. If not violently alarmed, which 
they principally become by getting their pursuer's wind, such solitary 
bucks are apt to take things easy, and come to a halt within reasonable 
distance, so that in such instances a carefully continued stalk ni,i\ after 
all end quite satisfactorily. To me, as to other men, such pursuit has 

* As bucks arc the chief ambition of sportsmen, the noi i nerally told by hi^ host 

that, in order that no doe may fall a victim, the keeper has received ord ell his Herr 

whether to shoot. This waiting for tin word is often very disturbing to a novice, I'm the 
tremendously keen keepers get often more excited than then Herr, and thus add to the lattei - 

agitation, Even staid old chamois shots, when out with a keeper, will r) this 

contagious excitement. 



AUSTRIA 



35 



charms of its own, for it has a sporting element about it which is 
lacking in the stealthy creep-up and pot-shot at a quietly grazing 
beast. The wary old buck has had his due warning that a man with 
a brightly polished tool of destruction is on his tracks. The garde a 
vons of a chivalrous challenge has been given, and success in over- 
coming the amazingly wary foe is therefore doubly sweet. 




WEIGHING CHAMOIS 



Chamois driving, which is the method by which the majority 

(though not the best) are bagged, is a far less exciting sport than 

stalking ; but, on the other hand, it is one which one 

can follow when stiffened limbs and the loss of youthful . . 

' Driving. 

vigour make stalking impossible. Ambushed behind 

rocks or other cover at one's "stand," the approach of the driven 



3 6 SPORT IX EUROPE 

chamois is awaited. Trying to the novice's nerves, as few other 
moments, is the necessarily quick choice of the best beast out ol 
the little hand as it fleetly sweeps past his post. And even betting 
can safely he indulged that the beast that looked so big, ami which 
one felt positive was a buck, turns out to be a doe, when it lies 
before one stark and dead. The difference between adults ol the 
two sexes is so insignificant that it takes long practice to tell them 
asunder, and even the oldest hand occasionally makes mistakes. 

Driving chamois disturbs the ground very much, and should not 
be indulged in more than once every year, or the ground will rapidly 
deteriorate. In many of the large shoots certain portions are left 
undriven in alternate years, and in some very extensive preserves the 
same stretch is taken every three years only. The number of beaters 
required for such drives is great, often a hundred sturdy young 
fellows, all picked climbers, being employed on these occasions. 

What is called " moving " chamois harasses the ground less than 
driving. It is done by letting two or three men walk, without 
making any unnecessary noise, over those portions of the ground 
where, for one reason or another, stalking is not advisable. The 
guns are posted in much the same way as for driving, the shooting 
being easier, for the game comes slowly, not being frightened by any 
hubbub. Another method is to walk with the "movers, either al">\< 
or below them, according to the wind, for the hitter is the one im- 
portant feature in the circumventing of chamois. An unexpected 
veering of the breeze, a by no means infrequent occurrence in the 
mountains, where it generally precedes every change of the weather, 
will render the most carefully planned drive quite abortive, Bj 



AUSTRIA 



37 



nature the chamois has about it a good deal of curiosity, and this 

shows itself if one sits quite motionless at one's stand, when chamois 

will occasionally approach quite close if the sportsman's whereabouts 

is not betrayed by the wind. Many a time wary old does have 

tiptoed up to within six or eight paces of me, the craning neck 

and steady gaze fixed upon the motionless apparition, showing how 

greatly their sense of curiosity had been aroused by the unwonted 

sight of " a thing they call a man," as probably they explained to 

their kids frisking about in perfect ignorance of the dangerous toy 

lying across the knees of that motionless figure. 

Chamois shoots are not as expensive to rent as deer forests, and 

the latter again are in Austria not as costly pleasures as they have 

become north of the Tweed. A good chamois ground, 

where fifty or sixty chamois can be killed, is obtainable „, 

1 J Shoots. 

for ,£400 or ^500 per annum, inclusive of the necessary 
staff of keepers and the v *u$e of a lodge. The latter, compared to 
Scotch shooting boxes, are "very simply furnished. In deer preserves, 
a more or less serious additional expense, from which chamois shoots 
are free, has to be considered in the shape of Wildschaden, or damage 
done by deer to the peasants' crops. For, when driven by hunger, 
deer will leave their elevated haunts and descend to the upper fringe 
of the inhabited region, where the frugal peasant makes a precarious 
living by growing oats and the hardier roots. 

The weak "stake" fences, scarcely strong enough to keep cattle 
out of the field, are no protection whatever against deer. To keep 
them out an eight-foot wire fence is required, and even then this 
does not insure immunity against the determined assault of starving 



38 



SPORT IN EUROPE 




?;ringing home the stag from the mountains 



deer. The damage even half a dozen of them will commit in a 
single night is extraordinary, and it has to he made good by the 
owner or lessee of the nearest forest, according to the assessment 
of a Government commissioner sent to the spot to appraise it. 

In Hungary and Galicia the heads of red deer are, as everyone 
knows, superior to those of Austria proper, for not only is the food. 
in the shape of beechmast, etc., much richer, and the climate of Less 
alpine severity, but stags have a better chance of reaching mature 
years in the primeval forests still to be found in those countries. Of 
these details it is, however, another's business to speak. 

Some of the old customs of the chase which are still kept up 
in Austrian forests lake one back to the Middle Ages. Lack of 



AUSTRIA 



39 




PRESENTING THE TWIG 

space prevents me speaking of more than one, viz. "presenting the 
twig," as might be translated the custom illustrated by a good 
photograph. After a stag is killed, the keeper takes off 
his hat and lays on it a small twig of fir or pine (for 
chamois a twig of the Latchen is taken) which has 
been drawn over the bullet-hole in the hart's bod)-, and thus presents 
it to the sportsman, be he master or guest, who has brought down 
the beast. 

The stag in the picture is an unusually large one for the Alps. 
It was killed by Count Bardeau (who is dressed in the national 



4 o SPORT IN EUROPE 

costume, with a good specimen of the chamois beard in his hat) on 
ground belonging to the Styrian preserve I have repeatedly spoken of. 
It was one of the largest stags killed in that neighbourhood for some 
years, and Prince August Coburg, whose very extensive lorest 
marched with our much smaller one, and who annually expends 
large sums upon the feeding of his deer, had killed nothing like ii 
for a number of years. The head keeper, Kals by name, is a noted 
tackier of poachers, and so far his pluck has always come out 
victorious, but I do not think I would care to insure his life as an 
ordinary " risk." 

As to trout- fishing in Austria, sport for which that country is 
occasionally visited with good results by Englishmen, the following 

general remarks by a non-fisherman may he lound to 
Trout. 

contain a few useful hints. Most of the trout and gray- 
ling water is in private hands; and it is not preserved for sport with 
the fly-rod, but rather for trade purposes. In fact, many a capital 
stream is being ruined by over-fishing with nets. Trout and grayling, 
for some reason or other, are considered great delicacies by the 
numerous tourists who spend their summer holidays in the alpine 
valleys, where, as a rule, the best water and the gamest fish are t<> 
be found. For this reason, trout are expensive fare, for which one 
is often charged as much as 35. and 45. per lb., and trout water 
containing a plentiful supply of fish is therefore a valuable asset 
The sport of fishing is, however, not in demand, and. provided one 
does not retain the fish oneself, but promises to turn them oxer to 
the owner, who in most cases is an hotel-keeper, the right of fishing 
is easily obtained, and either not charged for at all. or let at a ven 



AUSTRIA 41 

moderate rent. In Styria there are many remote spots where very 
excellent fishing is to be had on such easy terms as I have described. 
Thus in the shooting we rented in that picturesque country there 
was a capital stream and a nice little lake, where my wife, who knows 
of fishing but little more than I do, often caught twenty-five fine 
trout, varying from 4 ozs. to i|- lbs., in a short afternoon, while good 
fishermen more than doubled that bag in the same time. Considering 
that until the first year of our lease the previous owners (the abbot 
and monks of the rich old monastery of Admont, who had possessed 
it for just four centuries) obtained their large supply of trout for the 
numerous fast days from this water, more than 3 cwt. being, I believe, 
annually netted in the two principal pools on the river, it was 
wonderful that the fishing had not been ruined long ago. The fish 
seemed very unsophisticated, and almost any fly picked at random 
from my book, stocked many years previously for Scotch waters, 
seemed welcome, though--I\think on the whole the gaudy ones were 
preferred ; and, certainly, the clearer the water and the brighter the 
sun, the better did the fish bite in that particular locality. Sir Walter 
Corbet and Sir Edmund Loder, both fishermen of experience, caught 
fish exceeding 2 lbs., but neither succeeded in catching any of the 15-lb. 
and 20-lb. monster lake trout which it was said inhabited the very 
deep loch, at any rate in the imagination of the keepers, who stoutly 
believed in the existence of these somewhat legendary giants. 

There was no regular fisherman on the place after the first year 
of our lease, one of the keepers being called into requisition when 
we went fishing. One day, Lady Loder and my wife fished down 
the stream for some distance, the two husbands being in pursuit oi 



42 



SPORT IN EUROPE 



larger game on the mountain slopes that overlooked the valley. The 
keeper who accompanied the ladies was constantly spying for his 
beloved chamois. He had taken Lady Loder's Mannlicher with him 
on the off chance of a certain wary old buck who roamed a certain 
Gschrofj' quite low down near the stream becoming visible. And 




SCHWARZEN SEE IX STVRIA AND \\ll\l BOA! 

really so it happened, for when Lady Loder had caught seventeen 
and my wife six good trout, the keeper suddenly spied tin- beast, 
and. in less than half an hour from landing her last trout, Lady Loder 
had grassed what turned out to be the buck with the longest Krickeln 
(horns) of the season — an afternoon's bag that will not soon be equalled. 



A 



AUSTRIA 



43 



For fishing in the lake from the boat (of the quaint "lines" of 
which I am able to give a faithful portrait) more skill was required 
than for fishing the pools in the river ; at any rate, neither my wife 
nor I ever managed to get more than one or two, while Sir Walter 
Corbet had not the slightest trouble in landing any number. 

The fishing right in these waters, the excellence of which the 
foregoing will sufficiently illustrate, was but little valued by the owner 
of the preserve, and in fact no charge was made for it, though if we 
kept the trout for our own consumption we had to pay 2S. 6d. per 
kilo (2 lbs.) for them, they being worth twice that price at the nearest 
country town. 

In some of the larger lakes in Austria another species of salmon 
{Saibling, or 5". salvelinus, L.) is to be found. In deep lakes they 
grow to a very large size — I remember one weighing over 70 lbs. 
being caught many years ago in the St. Wolfgang lake, which formed 
part of my father's propertysin Upper Austria. 

In conclusion, I may draw the attention of English fishermen to 

one salmonoid for which the Danube is famous, for it is found in no 

other water. This is the Huchen {Salmo huchd), which 

Hucho. 
reaches a length of 6 feet and a weight of 60 lbs. 

In March and April it ascends the headwaters of the Danube to 

spawn, it being frequently seen in such elevated streams as the Ziller 

in Tyrol, at an elevation of something like 2,000 feet over the level 

of the Black Sea. It takes the spoon and also the fly, but is generally 

speared by the peasants when it reaches the shallow headwaters of 

the Danube. 



HUNGARY 



*..y 




= ^lcWll 1*99 



To fati 




... v \ RED DEER 

' O i , 

A Twenty-two Pointer, shot by Count Maximilian Hoyos at Munkacs (Count E. Schcinbern's estate) in 1876 
Weight (clean), 245 kilos (38 stone 7 lbs.). From a painting by Count F. Lambcrg 



HUNGARY 

By GEZA COUNT SZECHENYI 



T T would be strange indeed if the shooting in Hungary were not 

■* among the finest in Europe, so strictly do we preserve our 

game. I cannot begin my short account, indeed, oi the country's 

sport better than by an outline of the close times, so important are 

47 



4 8 



SPORT IN EUROPP 



these and so essential to an understanding of the subject.'- 1 Shooting 
is prohibited in a general way from ist February to ist August, 
the use of all manner of game dogs being prohibited during that 
period. There are in addition special close times for the various 
beasts and birds, of which the following is a convenient summary: — 



BEASTS. 

Red Deer. 
(Stag) 15th Oct.— ist July. 
Hind) ist Jan.— 15th Oct. 

Fallow Deer. 
(Buck) 15th Nov.— ist July. 
(Doe) ist Jan.— 15th Oct. 

Roedeer. 
(Buck) 15th Jan. — ist April. 
(Doe) ist Jan.— 15th Oct. 

Chamois. 
15th Dec. — ist Aug. 

(Fawns always protected.) 



BIRDS. 

Capercailzie and Blackcock, 
ist Jan.— 1st March. 

(The hens always.) 

Ileathcock. 
l-t 1 >ec. — 15th Aug. 

Pheasant and Bustard, 
ist Feb — 15th Aug. 

Partridge, 
ist Jan. — ist Aug. 
(Song birds all the year round.) 



Migratory birds and water-fowl are protected in their breeding seasons. 

As regards shooting rights, a landed proprietor must possess at 
the least 200 Jock (i.e., nearly 300 acres) of continuous propert) to 
enjoy his own shooting rights, and even he would, of course, be 
subject to the game laws. Proprietors of smaller estates than this 
enjoy no shooting rights, but the community is compelled to put up 

* It will be seen, in the article on Spain, thai the Duke <>f Frias also pays a well- 
deserved tribute to the game laws of Hungary, which he had ample opportunities of studying 
during his resilience in the country; and he has often told me thai it game were preserved in 
Spain as it is in Austria-Hungary, his country would have no need to envy Central Europe 
the quality of its sport. Ed. 



HUNGARY 



49 




Circumferen 

E 



RED DEER 
A Sixteen Pointer, .shot by H.R.H. Prince Philipp Coburg at Pohorella 

: of burr, 31 J cm. \ length of horn, 90 cm.; below crown, 21^ cm. ; above middle point, 17^ cm. 
above burr, 26 cm. 



5 o SPORT IN EUROPE 

to public auction all properties under 200 Jock in one piece, the rent 
obtained by this means being then divided among the several pro 
prietors, according to the size of their respective holdings. I he 
best return for such legislation is seen in the enormous increase in 
our game during the last few years. The quality of stag, chamois 
and other horned game always means so much more to the true 
sportsman than mere numbers, and we try in consequence to improve 
the breed wherever possible. This desirable ambition is greatl) 
stimulated by the annual exhibitions at Budapest of the best horns 
of the season, prize medals being awarded to the first ten ; and this 
silent competition of magnificent trophies is a sight to gladden tin- 
sportsman's heart. 

It is not too much to say that a keen sportsman can occupy every 
single day of the shooting season in Hungary, so great is the variet) 
of game and so near one to the other are the different beasts and 
birds. I now proceed to enumerate these. 

It may cause English sportsmen some surprise if I place at the 

head of the list our European tiger, the lynx of the Carpathians. 

but I really venture to regard him as in many respects 
Lvnx. 

the most desirable, so difficult is he to obtain. A 

sportsman has indeed to regard himself as extraordinarily luck) 

should he bag more than two or three in a lifetime. The reason 

for this is not that lynxes are particularly scarce in the land, since 

thirty or forty are killed every year, trapped ami shot. The damage 

they do is immense, even to chamois and deer, and the sports 

man therefore does good service in shooting them when a chance 

offers. 



HUNGARY 



5 1 



The bear, our largest animal, is found in all the northern moun- 
tainous tracts of Hungary and also in Transylvania. Judging from 
statistics, some 200 bears are killed annually, a few 
trapped, but the majority shot. Beats in the autumn 
months are the favourite plan of killing bears. A record bag was 




A DAY'S BAG ON THE ESTATE OF COUNT GEZA ANDRASSV 
(Two Bear and six Boar) 



obtained by a party in Transylvania, ten or twelve guns bagging, 
if I remember right, twenty-eight bears in the course of three weeks, 
and in the same season another party shot twenty-two. Bears are 



52 SPORT IN EUROPE 

shot at all altitudes, in proof of which I may mention that a friend 
of mine, who was the highest-posted gun in a mountain heat last 
year, shot in the same heat a chamois and a huge bear ; and at 
Count Geza Andrassy s, in Northern Hungary, the annual fox-hunting 
season is always interrupted l>v a two or three days' hear shoot, only 
a few hours by carriage from the hunt. In this short annual inter 
mezzo, a few hears and a larger number of very large boars are 
almost always bagged. 

Hears have been recorded as weighing 560 lbs., but one of over 
300 lbs. (150 kilos) is considered a fine specimen. Count Geza 
Andrassy shot one in 1895 weighing 276 kilos. 

In heavy winters the great grey woll comes far into the country, 
from East Galicia and Bukowina, to the despair of all game preservers 

and stock owners, even threatening solitary men. In 

Wolf. . ,. ,iii 

one way or another, some lour or live hundred are 

annually killed in the land. 

The wild boar is plentiful in parts of the country. It grows 

to a great size, and may weigh more than 500 lbs. It is every 

where the same plucky fighter, and a tusk ol a good 
Boar 

Hungarian boar is a trophy always worth the winning. 

As our boars are found only in the great forests, they cannot be 

ridden, and are there only shot, the majority in the depth of winter. 

either in beats or tracked with dogs. The published returns show 

that about 3,000 are shot every year. 

But when we speak of "big game" tout court, we mean our 

red deer, ami a glance at the aforementioned torn 
Red Deer. 

peting trophies at Budapest each autumn is sufficient 



HUNGARY 



53 



1 7j 








•VJ 


J \ 




Ik '■''" 


£j \ 




~~ ^^^^^^ :^^m "*■ 


' 1 






i 
i 






.£■ 



RED DEER 

First Medal at the Exhibition in 1897. Shot by Count Tassilo al Berzeneze. Twenty-two Pointer 

Circumference of burr, 28 cm.; length of horn, 97 cm.; below crown. 22 cm.; above middle point, 19cm.; 

above burr, ?.^ cm. 



54 



SPORT IN EUROPE 




RED D] l R 
> Count Michel Bsterhazy. Twenty-six Pointer 
fereno >f burr, 27$ cm. ; length of horn, 103 cm.; 1 n cm.; above middle point, 

buiT| 22J cm. 



HUNGARY 



55 



to show what magnificent deer we have. Only ten, as I think 
I have already said, are classed, but it may be said that the 
difference between the tenth and twentieth, and in some years even 
between the tenth and thirtieth, is very slight. 

In support of this apparently arbitrary statement, I venture to 
append the measurements of these best ten heads during the last 
four years, and to say that the differences continue in the same 
proportion. 



CLASSIFICATION OF THE TEN BEST HEADS AT THE AUTUMNAL SHOW IN 
THE YEARS 1895-1898. 

In Centimetres. 







dumber of 
points. 


Circumference Length of 
of burr. horn. 


Below crown. 


Above middle 
point. 


Above burr. 


Weight in 
kilograms. 


1895 


1 


14 • 


. 244 


109 


. i8£ .. 


194 


22 


9'12 




2 


16 


25 


109 


18 


17 


21 


7 '3° 




3 


14 


26J 


no 


i8J 


18 


22 


7-25 




4 


12 


21 


103 


• 17* •• 


:6i 


.. 174 ■ 


7'20 




5 


10 


■ **H\ 


104 


• 17* ■• 


i5i 


20 


6-45 




6 .. 


16 


• *?*' 


.. 96 ■ 


i8J .. 


17 


22 


6.45 




7 ■• 


14 


24 


112 


17 


'4i 


19 


7-50 




S .. 


18 


234 


106 


16 


14 


21 


7-40 




9 


14 


26i 


100 


17 


16 


22j 


. 625 




10 


12 


26J 


99 • 


17 


«5i 


.. 2lJ 


570 


1896 


1 


14 


3' 


97 


. 21J .. 


22 


.. 26 


10 




2 


16 


23 


126 


21 


17 


20 


• 9 




3 


18 


27 


.. 130 


21 


'7 


21 


860 




4 ■• 


16 


25 


107 


20 


17 


21 


■ 875 




5 • 


10 


25 


121 


19 


19 


20 


S 50 




6 


16 


23 


106 


IS 


18 


22 


• 7S9 




7 


18 


25 


97 


. 24 


IS 


21 


6-15 




8 .. 


14 


26 


104 


21 


IS 


23 


7-25 




9 ■■ 


10 


27 


1 00 


19 


18 


.. 19 


7 




JO 


14 


24 


"3 


19 


20 


22 


8 



56 



SPORT IN EUROPE 



I I i 



1897 



1898 



Number of Circumfcren 
points. '>f burr. 

22 ... 28 



14 

■ 6 
M 

■ 6 

iS 

16 



16 
26 
16 

IS 

16 
16 
16 

iS 



30 
27 
27 
27 
25 
24 
23 
26 

27 



31* 
274 

3ii 

25 

32 

28i 

25 
25 
29 
26 i 



I ! I 

horn, 

97 2 
116 ... 21 
u6 
> 13 

99 

100 

11S 

100 
117 
109 



ioy 
103 
90 
101 
in 

"3 
123 

97 
102 
1 12 



18 
17 
j: 
18 
19 
19 



24 
21 

2.J, 

|8 

22i 

24* 

22 

264 

■7* 

iS.'. 



At.. w- middle Above burr. W 

19 

iS 

18 

17 
'7 
IS 

16 

'5 

17 
17 

20 

16) 

'7i 

17 
16 

I6J 
I6A 

'7 
|6J 



To my knowledge, the best head was shot at Prince Montenuovo's in 1 

22 31 ... 126 

But a longer was shot in 1885 by Count Gfea Andrassy- 

16 ... 2S ... 12S 



891- 







23 


900 


25 


S 92 


24 


8-95 


23 


830 


25 


7-90 


25 


8 


18 


870 


21 


7 


23 


810 


23 


8 


274 


10 


224 


825 


26 


7 75 


214 


8-ao 


25 


8-55 


-'3 


8 ;<■ 


224 


825 


23 


67S 


24 


785 


23 


7 



•4'5 



1; 5 



The red deer is widely distributed over the country, in the hills 
as in the lowlands, wherever it finds vast lon-sts undisturbed. 
In nearly every part of the country they reach splendid propor 
tions. I he rutting season begins at the end of August in the 
lowlands and ends in the northern mountains at the beginning 
ol October, Tin.' weight of a fine stag grallocked would go well 
over 500 lbs. I myself shot one that weighed 260 kilos. Over 



HUNGARY 



57 




REST RED DEER TROPHY IN 1S9S 
Shot by Count L. Mailath at Miholac. Sixteen Pointer 

Circumference of burr, 13J cm. ; length of horn, 109 cm.; below crown, 22} cm. J above middle point, ^o cm. 

above burr, 27A cm. 



58 



SPORT IN EUROPE 




ROEBUCK 

Shot in i : 'qq by A. I i the estate of Count Friderich Wenclcheitu 



HUNGARY 



59 




ROEBUCK 

Shot on the estate of Count Friderlch Wenckhein] 



6o 



SPORT IN EUROPE 




ROEBUI K 
Shot in 1899 by Count 1.. MalUth 

1 umfi if 1 11 17. tn. ; length of horn, 29 cm.; ;ibovc burr, 1 1 ! mi, ; from tij. to tip 



HUNGARY 61 

a thousand grown stags are shot in the country every year, and 
the number might more properly be set down at three thousand, if 
we include hinds and the younger stags. 

Fallow deer are not indigenous to the country, but were imported 

at a remote date. At the same time these deer have 

, •ij- r i i Fallow 

by now run wild in many parts ot the country, and 

the wild bucks put on much better horns than those 

in parks, and, when stalked during the month of October, give very 

fair sport. 

But the most graceful of all our deer, and the one that offers 

the enthusiastic stalker the greatest amusement throughout the 

greater part of the year, is undoubtedly the little 

Roedeer. 
roe. The season for roe opens on ist April and 

ends only with the winter. In the month of April, when the 
roe keeps out in the open, he may be stalked, antelope-fashion, 
in a carriage. In May "aft d, June he is stalked on foot; and at 
the end of July, as well as in the early days of August, there is 
an exciting method of calling him up with the doe-call, to which 
he may come at great speed. There is, in fact, no animal that 
gives the sportsman residing in the country more agreeable and 
varied sport than the roebuck. It is plentiful in every district in 
which proper attention is paid to its protection, and in some parts 
of the country there is such abundance that great bags are occasion- 
ally made. F"or example, His Imperial and Royal Highness the 
Archduke Francis Ferdinand shot in the spring of 1899 at Count 
Tassilo Festetics' no fewer than sixty-six selected old bucks in 
three clays. And I could quote cases in which twenty and more 



62 



SPORT IN EUROPK 




ROEBUCK 

Shot on the estate of Count Friderich Wenckheim 



HUNGARY 



63 




ROEBUCK 
Shot in iSgg by A. Inkey, Esq., on the estate of Count Friderich Wenckhe 



6 4 



SPORT IN EUROIMC 




No. i. 

No. !. 
No. 

No. 4* 
No. 

No. 6. 



MX TYPES OF CHAMOIS HORNS 

Shot liy A. InUcy. 1 in Tr • . I\ani;i 

Height. Length over curve. Thickness at base. 

.. 20 28 

:8t 



- 
>6'3 



9i 



Spread. 
■9 
"3 

i : 
<4 
• si 

•ll 



Measurements in centimetres. Heigh highi I poinl f curve iss highest po 



HUNGARY 65 

fine old bucks were shot in a day. These large bags are for the 
most part made in the spring with carriage stalking. The measure- 
ments of the finest roe horns at the autumnal competition are 
almost incredible. The weight of a good buck grallocked can 
easily top 60 lbs. The longest roe horn that has come under 
my observation measured thirty-two centimetres, and greatest thick- 
ness round the burr twenty-five centimetres. 

It is perhaps unnecessary to remark that good sportsmen regard 
the roebuck as game for the rifle only. 

That goat-like antelope, the chamois, is no stranger to Hungary, 

though absent in the enormous numbers that frequent the Austrian 

Alps. Yet we have chamois in sufficient abundance 

Chamois. 
to give sport, and the quality of our beasts makes 

up in great measure for the quantity. Chamois are found in the 
high Carpathian mountains, as well as in the snows of Transylvania. 
Their heads are exceptionally fine in the latter district. The record 
buck's horn, shot in these parts by Count Arpad Teleki, is thirty- 
two centimetres* in length over the outer curve and eleven 
centimetres round the base, whereas a horn of twenty centimetres 
is a very good average horn in the Austrian Alps. 

A number of exotic animals have been introduced in our 
mountains with no little success, such as ibex and moufflon. The 
Sardinian moufflon was introduced by Count A. For- 
gach at Gymes as far back as 1868, and has succeeded 
so well that it may fairly be reckoned among the 
game of the country. The so-called moufflon of North Alrica. 
* This would be rather over a foot in English measurement. 



66 



SPORT IN EUROPK 




MOUFFLON 

Shot in 1S9S bj 1 I. 1 • heim-Gynlaj al N>n 



HUNGARY by 

as well as the Crete goat and Caucasian ibex, have also been 

more recently imported, but the experiment has not yet had a 

fair chance for the results to be in any way conclusive. 

About four hundred thousand hares are annually shot, the big 

shoots being in late autumn. Many hundreds of beaters are 

employed on these occasions, and they cover a great 

area of open land, as well as some woodland, forming „ . . ., 
r to Rabbits. 

in their advance three sides of a square, the guns 
marching with the beat on the front line, and the corner posts being 
the hottest. At the end of such a beat, which may last for several 
hours, the two side-lines (beaters only) close up and beat back to the 
stopping front line. It is in this way that often upwards of two 
thousand hares are bagged in the course of a day, and the corner 
post, under the wind, may bag a third, or even a half, of this 
enormous bag. Two men carry poles after each gun, and when each 
pole has the full count of. ! ten hares it is taken back to the carts. 
The photograph on the next page shows the unloading of the cart. 
Rabbits too have increased in some districts out of all bounds, and 
may be said to do more harm than good. Luckily, they are not 
established in many parts of the country. 

Hungary's largest game-bird is the bustard of the plains. In 

some parts it occurs in o-reat numbers, but it is always 

& Bustard. 

difficult of approach. 

Then there are the capercailzie and blackcock. The former gives 

in the mountainous regions wonderful sport when stalked in early 

spring in the first moments of dawn, as he is singing his love-song. 



68 



SPORT IN EUROPE 




THE "STRKCKE 

Laying out the hares after a shout (at Prisytasnr, cbe estate of the Mark 



The blackcock is abroad at the same season, also at dawn, fighting 

in rivalry for the grey hens. Both birds may be then stalked with 

a small rifle. The heathcock is also plentiful in moun- 

apercai zie ta j nous districts, and the American wild turkey, imported 
and Black- 
cock, etc. on 'y ;i f ew years ago, has already established itself in 

many parts. 
\\ ith the end of winter, the sportsman awakes to the coming 
"I the woodcock. For some reason or other — it may be his coming 



HUNGARY 69 

with the re-awakening of nature ; it may be mere custom ; or 

it may be the bird's comparative scarcity — the spring arrival of 

the woodcock causes much more interest and excite- 

Woodcock. 
ment than his autumn arrival. He is shot in beats, 

and morning and evening from a stand. A brace or two a day 

is good work for a gun, though over 20,000 are shot in the 

year. 

There are some fine pheasant shoots in the country, and the 

birds fly very well, as they are not brought up artificially. Partridges 

are shot from August to November over clogs, as 

well as in beats. Ouail arrive in numbers in different Pheasant > 

~ Partridge, 

parts of Hungary and abound for a week or so at the Quail etc. 

migration time. There is, however, a sprinkling of 

quail the whole summer, and all over the country. There are 

places and times in which a gun can secure several hundred brace 

in a clay. The statistics account for about 400,000 annually. 

Water -fowl of all kinds are shot on our swamps and lakes, 

sometimes in considerable quantity. Geese, cluck, snipe and 

other fowl offer sport sometimes throughout the summer. Of wild 

duck it would appear that not far short of 600,000 are shot 

annually. There are various other birds, such as eagles, buzzards, 

cranes, and even the white pelican, which, without exactly coming 

under the head of "game," offer at times sporting shots. 

In bringing these shooting notes to a close, it may be of interest 

to quote a fragment of the statistics that show our recent increase 

of game. Four game lists are also given, as possibly interesting 

to the reader. 



7° 



SPORT IN EUROPE 





1891. 


1892. 


1893. 


1894. 


1895. 


1896. 


Red Deer 


2047 


2337 


246S 


- 3836 


3324 


3766 


Fallow Deer . 


747 


866 


738 


1022 


lios 


1018 


Roedeer 


7327 


8846 


9522 


■3.'44 


"0,737 


11,627 


Pheasant 


33.26S 


44,084 


43.895 


64,499 


64,492 


80,201 


Partridge 


93.289 


... 110,65s 


125,847 


190,359 


163,973 


207.427 


Hare 


■ 201,507 


... 428,477 


■ ■• 334.012 


558,440 


. . 389, 1 20 


445,9*7 



(These figures do not include Slavonia and Croatia.) 



As less than one-fifth part of the country (the western part) 
furnishes lift)- per cent, of the total, the possibility of further 
development is evident. 



A HUNGARIAN" GAME LIST. 

On the Estate of Count Tassilo Festetics. 
Roe. Pheasant. 



Nov. 



20th. 
2 1 St. 
22nd. 



Name 
of Covert. 


Muck 


Doe. 


Hare. 


Rabbit. 


Cock. 


Hen. 


Total. 


Part- 
ridge. 


Wood- 
cock. 


Variou- 


Szeut-Ldszlo 


3 


— 


293 


190 


462 


"3° 


592 


104 


1 1 


— '"93 


Lankdcz 


10 


— 


883 


— 


3"3 


— 


313 


'35 


3 


' '345 


Sbte'terdo 


— 


— 


89 


326 


"39° 


— 


1390 


101 


— 


3 '909 



Total . .13 
Present : — 

Prince Francis Liechtenstein 
Marquis Edward Pali.avicini. 
Count Vodsicky. 
Baron Bergheim. 



65 516 2165 130 2295 340 "4 4 



4447 



Mr. Smart. 

Count Wilhki.m Festetics. 

Baron Stefan Inkey. 

Count Tassilo Festetics [thi 11 



GAME LIST. 
In the Season of November, 1898, ro January, 1899. 
/;; thirteen shooting days on Count Frederic ll'enclheim's Estates. 

(Mostly about twelve guns.) 









Roedeer. 


Mare 


Pheasant. 


Putridge 


Bustard. 


Fox. 


Various. 


Total. 




Dec 26th. 


lOO 


307 


7 


— 


— 


— 


4'4 


»" S 


., 27th. 






1 


I660 


225 


21 


5 


1 


2 


1915 


-J 

-0 » 


.. 28th. 






1 


3094 


5 


59 


1 


2 


1 


3 '63 


X M 


„ 29th. 






2 


2085 


20 


77 


— 


— 


— 


2184 


.E v, 


,. 30th. 






— 


12 76 


21 


77 


— 


— 


— 


'3:4 


|| 


» 3'st. 






— 


2« 9 


976 


88 


— 


1 


1 


'355 ) 


"1 


Nov. 29th. 






— 


I084 


— 


7 


— 


— 


- 


1091 


Dec. 1st. 






— 


337 


— 


2 


— 


— 


— 


339 


„ 211(1. 






— 


539 












539 


(an. 2nd. 






— 


421 


476 


— 


— 


1 


3 


901 


., 3rd. 






— 


788 


308 


— 


— 


— 


4 


1 100 


„ 7th. 






— 


47i 


— 


— 


— 


— 


3 


474 


,. 10th. 






— 


611 


1 


— 


1 


— 


'4 


612 




4 




2339 


338 


7 


5 


15462 



HUNGARY 



7 1 



TEN YEARS' GAME LIST OF COUNT ANDREAS CSEKONICS. 

February ist, 1889, to January 3ist, 1S99. 

At Zsomholya. 



GAME ANIMALS. 
Pheasant. 



Buck. Doe. Hare ^"j|" ^jj" Goose Cock. Hen. Partridge. Quail. Woodcock. Snipe. Duck. Fieldfares. Total. 



342 60 28525 75 



3 i i 336 69 8720 



BEASTS AND BIRDS OF PREY. 



255 374 



44424 



Wolf. Bad " WiW Fox Hedge- w , Cur c £ , d 

ger. Cat. hog, and Dog. 6 Buzzard. 



Sparrow 
Hawk. 



Crow. Magpie. Owl. 



Hamster. 

i 6 1337 488 ic 



of prey. 



908 904 121 4724 4394 41903 10783 6770 36481 128678 

Grand Total, 173,102 of all kinds. 



A FIVE DAYS' SHOOT AT MARKGRAF ALEXANDER PALLAVICINI'S PLACE, 
PUSZTA-SZER, IN DECEMBER, 1S96. 



Present were : — 

H.I.H. the Grand Duke Nikolaus. 
Prinz Francis Liechtenstein. 
Mr. M. Narischkine. 
Prinz Engei.bert Auersperg. 
Count Francis Colloredo. 

Roedeer. Pheasant. 
569 

1 ,* 212 
3 5 

1 330 



Mr. Vadnay. 

Count Geza Apponyi. 

Markgraf Charles Pallavicini 

(the Master of the house). 



ist day 


2nd „ 


3rd „ 


4th „ 


5th „ . 



Total 



Hare. 
775 
I28o 

1454 
1777 
2708 



Partridge. Various. 

32 3 

10 — 

2 7 

? 6 



Total. 
1379 
1299 
1676 
1796 
3042 



I 125 



7994 



9192 



Trout, etc. 



Salmon there is none in our streams, so that my few notes on 
the fishing will necessarily lack interest in its absence. Our coldest 
mountain streams contain, it is true, the Salmo salve- 
linus, but its merits are rather of the table, and have 
no concern with the rod. The rivers are also well stocked with 
trout, and the lakes are full of carp and pike. On the whole, 
however, and in spite of the praiseworthy efforts of the Government 
in the direction of systematic fish-hatching' and protection, it must 



72 SPORT IN EUROPE 

be confessed that fishing as a sport has yet to be developed in 

Hungary. 

There is fair hunting to be had in Hungary, though the packs arc 

not numerous. Our climate is by no means favourable tor the sport 

of sports. The season is so short that a hunting man 
Hunting. 

may consider himself lucky indeed if he gets eight full 

weeks of it in the year. The heat and drought on the one hand do 
not allow of hunting in earnest until October is on the wane, and once 
December is with us every hunting day without frost and snow may 
be accepted with thanks. Before the arrival of Christmas the land is, 
save in exceptional years, frozen over lor good. As regards fox- 
hunting in particular, the difficult) - is to find rideable country and foxes 
together. The spread of game-preserving is death to the foxes. So 
that, with all these drawbacks to contend against, only two packs of 
foxhounds hunt the country. One of these is a society pack at 
Budapest, which rides oxer a smooth, sandy country, hunting fox four 
times a week ami stag twice. For main seasons the field had the 
honour of the presence of His Majesty the King Francis [oseph ami 
Her Majesty the Queen, both of whom were regular in their attend 
ance. To say they knew how to ride after hounds would be stating 
only what is well known. His Majesty is not only a keen horseman, 
but is still keener with the gun and rifle. One of his favourite sports 
is the stalking of capercailzie. He would often, for example, leave 
Vienna at eleven at night, shoot his birds high up in the Alps at 
three in the morning, and be back in Vienna for his day duties 
by seven without a moment's rest. The master of the hounds. Count 



HUNGARY 73 

Francis Nadasdy, is also a first-rate all-round sportsman. The 
other pack, kept by the Count Andrassy, hunts fox six days a 
week in the north of Hungary over very sporting country. Count 
G6za. Andrassy, living at Parno, is the master. A pack of staghounds 
runs three times a week at Holies, in the north-west. The pack 
is the property of the army, the commanding officer of the officers' 
riding school being master. There are several packs of harriers, 
as the private pack of Count Tibor Karolyi at Macsa and that of 
Count L. Forgach at Mandok. There is also a subscription pack 
at Zsuk, in Transylvania, which hunts over stiff, hilly country. 
The master is Baron Wesselenyi. In addition to these there are 
several packs of drag hounds. Unfortunately our climate agrees 
but indifferently with English hounds, which seem unable to stand 
the heat of our summers, and in consequence last no time. Their 
breeding is, for similar reasons, very often a failure, so that packs 
have continually to import' fresh hounds from England. 

A very popular sport in olden times was that of riding hares 
and foxes down with greyhounds. These well-bred Hungarian 

greyhounds, excellent stayers, ran down a hare at 

Coursing. 
almost any distance on the vast open plains un- 
interrupted by a yard of cover for miles. The hares were few 
in number and first-rate in quality, and the house of a Hungarian 
nobleman was never without its breed of admirable greyhounds. 
Nowadays the country is more cultivated, the vast plains are 
interrupted by cover, shooting has developed, hares are more plentiful 
and inferior in pace, and, what with one thing and another, this 
fine old sport has been abandoned in most parts of the country, 



74 SPORT IN EUROPE 

though still popular in some. Fine greyhounds are still bred in 
the lowlands, and these run for an autumn cup under the auspices 
of old-established clubs. 

So much, then, for our "animal" sports in Hungary. 1 under- 
stand that the yachting on Lake Balaton, which is supported by 
a thriving club with Count Michel Esterhazy as commodore, the 
steeplechasing, and the trotting, all of which have enthusiastic 
supporters in the land, do not come within the programme of this 
work. 



BELGIUM 



*>. \ \ 



BELGIUM 

By HENRI QUERSIN 

^* O far as its geographical situation goes, Belgium should be 

^^ a paradise for the sportsman. Rabbits swarm in incredible 

numbers in the girdle of sand-dunes, measuring roughly 

forty English miles, that mark its coast-line, whilst the en ra 

Considera- 

Scheldt, to which is owing the pre-eminence of Antwerp tions. 

among ports, embraces, particularly in the Dutch waters, 

deep creeks, the favourite haunts of wild fowl. In mild winters these 

waters are covered with -legions of wigeon. In summer time, herds 

of seals enliven the sand -banks, while the open water is broken by 

the gambols of lively porpoises. A good deal of shooting is therefore 

clone afloat, either in little steam launches, or from the decks of small 

sailing boats without keels, and on this sport, for ducks, geese and 

such kind, there is little or no restriction. At first sight, 

the craft used in this way by sportsmen, who live on 

used by 

board, may look curious, but the fact is they are Sportsmen, 
admirably suited to the work, for their low draught 
facilitates their navigation between shifting banks, and moreover the 
accommodation below is often excellent. (See photograph, page 93.) 



77 



78 SPORT IN EUROPE 

The districts shot over on the lower Scheldt are vast, but un- 
important, comprising no preserves whatever. To shoot without 

restraint from Antwerp to Flushing, it is only necessary 
Licences. 

to take out a Dutch licence (or "Groot Jacht Akte ) 

costing about 22 florins,* and a Belgian licence costing 45 francs. t 
The Dutch authorities, unwisely in my opinion, have recently in- 
terdicted the punt gun, now allowing shoulder guns only, hut in 
Belgian waters there is no such restriction. 

Towards the Dutch frontier, north and east, lie great stretches 
of heath, marsh and fir-groves, and the greater part of the more 
sandy tracts are given over to the rabbits, of which enormous bags 
are made in some places. On the east, sixty-two miles ol German 
frontier belong to the proprietors on the border and are overrun 
by the game of Rhenish Prussia. Seventy miles on the Luxemburg 

side, ami over three hundred and eighty to the south 

Features of 

,, „ and west, join Belgium to the rich plains of French 

the Country. J & ' 

Flanders, so famous for their partridges, and also to 
the fine big game preserves of the Grand Duchy. Within the 
country are forests, vast cultivated plains, heaths and swamps, each 
with a distinctive fauna of its own. 

There are unfortunately several drawbacks to the 

Drawbacks .. ,, . . 

_ sport in t>' prospects 01 bcltnum. 

to Sport. r & r j a 

1. The properties are very much cut up, so that 
it is more and more difficult to make a sporting property of such 
extent as to warrant restocking and judicious preservation. 

2. The sporting law is badly framed, and it is to be hoped 
* /'.<•. about 36.1'. t /.,-. rather over 35^. 



BELGIUM 79 

that the new law, now under consideration, will be an improve- 
ment. 

3. Poaching, ever on the increase, is assuming alarming propor- 
tions, and constitutes an actual menace to sport. Cases of poachers 
firing at keepers, with even fatal results, are becoming commoner. 
Bands of twenty or thirty masked ruffians think nothing of trespassing 
on an estate and killing the game under the very eyes of the 
keepers, the latter being surprised and powerless to stop them ; 
and there is no saying where their audacity will stop. Qnly last 
November, seventeen poachers even attacked the gendarmes, who 
were going to help the keepers ; and it would take a volume to 
accommodate the press accounts of even last years poaching offences. 

The foreigner visiting- Belgium should furnish himself with letters 

of introduction, for, with these, he is sure to find among Belgian 

sportsmen a warm reception and every courtesy. Shooting and 

hunting dress and all suer> ^details of sport are practically the same 

in good circles as in England. As to weapons, they naturally 

depend on the game, but the 12 -bore is in general use. For 

deer and wild boar, sportsmen use either double Express, 400 or 

450, or carbines of 12 or 450 ; and for some years those who shoot 

big game have been more and more in favour of the 

"drilling," i.e. the three-barrelled gun, two above of _. ,. 

& ° Shooting. 

12 or 16 bore (12 for preference), the third and lower- 
most rifled and either 450 or 360. The taste for high-class weapons 
is general, and it is not unusual to see at shoots several first-rate 
English guns, though the weapon most in use is perhaps of Belgian 
make and worth about ,£25 to Z35. 



8o SPORT IN EUROPE 

What, however, is almost certain to strike the experienced visitor 
is not so much the shooting of the first rank of shots (though these 
are pretty numerous), but the far more striking excellence ol the 
average. Perhaps national character has something to do with 
this, and the Belgian, lacking on the one hand the extreme phlegm 
of the Dutch, and on the other the restlessness of the French, may 
be particularly endowed with the happy equilibrium of character 
and temperament that go to make the successful shot. 

In few countries is more attention paid to the breeding of dogs 

of pure blood. Amateurs of pointers, setters, spaniels, retrievers, 

cockers, and many other breeds have established a 

_.,._.. number of clubs, all affiliated to the Royal Society of 
Field Trials. ' 

St. Hubert, founded for the improvement of breeds of 
dogs. During 1899 this Society organised no fewer than four 
shows, and gave prizes for field trials to the amount of 17,000 francs. 
The Royal Society of St. Hubert is under the high patronage of 

H.R.H. Prince Albert of Belgium, and numbers, either 

The Royal ()n t j lc committee or among the members, a large 

Society of 

St. Hubert. number of the leaders in the sporting world. Mention 

may be made of Baron W. del Marmol. Count i\r 

Beauffort, S.A.S. Prince Albert de Soams, S. E. Shirley. Esq. 

(President of the Kennel Club), Count J. de llemptinne, L. D( 

Matthys, F. E. de Middeler, V. Du Pre. A. Morren, Count de 

Robiano, and many others. 

The opening and closing days of the shooting 
Close Times. 

season are fixed annually by ministerial edict. The 

opening is generally looked for about the 20th August. Shooting 



BELGIUM 8 1 

with dogs is allowed only after the 1 5th September, and pheasants and 
big game (red, fallow and roe deer) are shot from the 1st October. 
Partridge and grouse shooting end about the 15th November. 
Rabbit shooting over dogs or in battues, in the woods or on the 
sand - dunes, is allowed all the year round. Waterfowl in the 
marshes or along the streams and rivers may be shot until the 
1 5th April ; and hunting closes about the same time. 

I.— HUNTING 

It cannot be said that Belgium is particularly adapted to the 
sport of hunting, for areas under cultivation, as well as impenetrable 
forests of firs, continually arrest the further progress of the hunt. 
Notwithstanding these obstacles, however, we have one or two first- 
rate packs. 

The Barons de Crawbe^. keep a mixed pack at Bievre, with which 
they hunt big game and often the fox ; and they have also a second 
pack of beagles for hare hunting. 

The " Societe de Chasse " of Viel Salm (which is supported by 
MM. de Sincay, de Rosee, del Marmol and others) owns a pack of 
foxhounds, which hunt the fox and boar twice a week ; and there 
is a pack of harriers for the hares. All the dogs in this kennel 
must be replaced, for, as I write this, several cases of distemper have 
appeared, and it has been decided to destroy the entire pack. 

The oldest-established pack of harriers in Belgium, the Rallye- 
Waereghem, celebrated its jubilee of fifty years in 1896. Its dogs are 
of French origin, and have the reputation for very keen scent. 



82 SPORT IN EUROPE 

Baron Piers de Raverschoot hunts the hare at Olsene with a pack 

of similar blood, but crossed with an English strain. At the time 

when he was Governor of Hainault, Baron du Sart de 

_ . Bouland hunted an excellent pack of crossed beagle 

Packs. ' 

and "briquet" in the country round Mons .mil d'Ath. 

M. du Roy de Blicquy hunts hares with hounds of the same nu e . 

while MM. Dumont de Chassart own Saintonge hounds that enable 

them to hunt hares with peculiar success. 

It is very rarely that Belgian hounds run down a stag. The 

stags of the Ardennes are, as they used to say in the time of Gaston 

Phcebus, reputed impregnable by dogs, not only on 

TT \. account of their strength, but also because of the various 

Hunting. ° 

difficulties of the country. The feat was accomplished 
in 1S40 by the pack belonging to Baron d'Hooghvorst and Count 
Duval de Beaulieu ; and on the 26th October the admirable pack 
belonging to MM. de Crawhez repeated the performance, for a great 
stag with magnificent antlers was started in the fir woods of Merny. 
near Paliseul, and was killed, after a run of four hours and a superb 
fight in the water, at Glaireuse. Lastly, on the 24th October, 1S98. 
the same pack started a ten-pointer in the same place and killed 
at Daverdys, after a run ol an hour and forty minutes. 



II.— HAWKING 

In spite of individual attempts, it may fairly he said that falconry 
has no existence in Belgium to-day. Thus, in ,1 competition of hawks 
at Spa, in August, 1899, only two competitors entered. Dr. Arbel. 



BELGIUM 83 

of Vermand (Aisne, France), and Mr. C. Radcliffe, of Wareham 
(Dorset, England). Yet the vast plains of Flanders, the heaths 
of the Camplne, and many parts of Belgium would eminently lend 
themselves to this form of sport, and the lack of interest shown 
in it by the Belgians is the more remarkable when it is remembered 
that most of the passage hawks flying to the British Islands are 
captured at their very door. Karl Mollen, of the village of Valken- 
swaard, has made quite a name as a trapper of hawks. 

III.— SHOOTING 

It will now be convenient briefly to enumerate the kinds of game 
found in Belgium. 

There are still occasional examples of the old Belgian stag, 

known as the stag of St. Hubert, accommodated in the Crown forest 

of Freyr and comparatively 'sheltered. The staos that 

7 * " & Red Deer. 

inhabit the forests of the Ardennes are descended from 

a German herd imported at great expense thirty or five-and-thirty 

years ago. The country would seem to have suited them, for, 

although the terrible winter of 1890 made appreciable gaps in their 

ranks, they have increased surprisingly. The parcelling out of landed 

property is responsible for the popularity of the battue for both stags 

and other big game. The sportsman who is friendly with any of the 

larger landed proprietors should get leave to stalk a stag in the 

rutting time, towards the end of September. The memories of such 

an outing are indelible. 

Fallow deer have been imported and acclimatised, and the very 



84 SPORT IN EUROPE 

rare examples met with are descended from a few couple that strayed 

from a certain estate when a storm had turn up tin- 
Fallow , i\t r l l 

^ fence. Most of them are kept on private commons, or 

Deer. ' ■ 

in the royal domains, and they move about vers little. 

On the other hand, roedeer are plentiful, requiring only some 

wood or other of small extent and with a southerly aspect. The most 

amusing way of hunting roebuck is to beat up the wood 
Roedeer. 

with a couple of slow dogs. The animal, relying on its 

wonderful agility, takes a deal of beating, and the hounds make 

pleasant music until a shot ends the concert. I regret to say that this 

method is but little practised, for most of the roedeer killed in 

Belgium fall in the battues. 

The winter of 1890, so fatal to the red deer, was also terrible for 

the boar. They are still, however, pretty plentiful in the Ardennes, 

for, fortunately for them, sportsmen do not by any 
Wild Boar. 

means succeed in shooting all they sec flu- fact is 

that the apparent easiness of a shot at fifteen or twenty paces at a 
beast of this size leads many a novice, particularly if a little excited, 
to miss. Formerly, in the snow more especially, when a boar was 
surrounded, the guns were posted round about and a dozen of the 
right kind of boarhounds were uncoupled. The beast at bay had then 
only two courses open to him : either he came out and was then shot ; 
or he faced the dogs, and was held down by them until the huntsman 
went in and finished him with the knife. Other times, other ways! 
The best boar hunts are nowadays done by the societies. Hveryone 
must have his chance of a shot, and so, when the members of the 
hunt are placed, a line of beaters marches through the wood. Thus 






BELGIUM 



'5 



do we lose in picturesqueness what we gain in equalised chances 
of success. Boar are best shot with ball, but many prefer to use 
shot. 

Wolves have practically vanished from the land, and it is seldom 
that one hears of the death of one of these brutes. The chief re- 
sponsibility for their disappearance may probably be 

Wolves, 
traced to the great sporting societies, which, in the 

interests of the preservation of game, have undertaken the work of 

destroying the carnivora, more particularly by poison. The forests 

of Chiny, Neufchateau, Luchy, Gucville, and Arlon are, among 

others, regarded as the chief remaining- haunts of Belgian wolves, 

but, as is the case with white blackbirds, more people talk of them 

than see them. Therefore it may without hesitation be said that, 

save when unusually severe winters send us rare apparitions of 

wolves in search of food or a milder climate, our wolves are animals 

of the past ; and those whb-' have an ambition for wolf hunting had 

far better visit Russia. 

Poison and firearms notwithstanding, there are still plenty of 

foxes in Belgium, though sportsmen, not having the same reasons 

for forbearance as their neighbours the English, have 

Foxes. 
outlawed this poacher, and wage against him a war 

without quarter. Battues are often fatal to foxes, and few smaller 

deer die so stupidly on such occasions as this otherwise crafty 

animal. The most effective and also the most popular method 

employed by the keepers to get rid of foxes is that of digging up 

the earth when the young are born. 

Though apparently enjoying in Great Britain an only secondary 



86 SPORT IN EUROPE 

place among sporting animals, the hare may be regarded as the 

chief object of many Belgian, French, and I hitch 
Hares. 

shoots. Hare shooting (like partridge shooting) opens 

in Belgium towards the end of August ; and this is greatly to be 

regretted, since at that time many hares are on the point of bear 

ing young, and a single barrel may thus kill three or four hares. 

The landowners had in fact asked, and obtained, the postponement 

of the shooting season to a later date, but electoral questions at 

length defeated this wise measure. Hares are shot over dogs at 

the same season as partridges. Sportsmen, quite at home, leave the 

hares in the early days, knowing full well that they will find them 

later on when the partridges have become wild ami unapproachable. 

In the woods, as also on the plains, the hare shoots on a large 

scale are carried out with the aid of beaters, the guns being posted 

in front. For table purposes, the hares from the Ardennes, that 

have fed on aromatic herbs, are greatly to be preferred to those of 

Flanders, which are flabby and insipid. 

Rabbits, as already remarked, swarm in the dunes along the 

shore, in the Campine, and throughout the more sandy 
Rabbits. 

districts ot the country. It is shot over dogs, in 

battues, above all perhaps with ferrets. 

The partridge affects more especially the rich cultivated lowlands 

of Flanders, Brabant, and Hainault, but it may be regarded as ot wide 

distribution throughout Belgium. It is shot over dogs, 
Partridges. 

chiefly pointers and setters, but also dogs of the country 

and of other continental breeds. It is exceedingly difficult to give, 

even approximately, the bags made on different estates, the owners 



BELGIUM 87 

concealing the results for fear of attracting" poachers. There are 

famous shootings, on which it is said that an individual gun can 

account for fifty brace, but these must be regarded as exceptional. 

But at any rate we may regard from fifteen to thirty brace a clay 

as nothing unusual during the early days of the season. 

Grouse is an imported game, but its acclimatisation is to-day an 

accomplished fact. About 1893 M. A. Bary Herrfeldt introduced 

grouse from Scotland and turned them clown in the 

Grouse. 
neighbourhood of Malmedy, where he owned a shooting 

of some three or four thousand acres of heath and peat bog, probably 

not unlike the country in Scotland. From that time, thanks to 

systematic protection and the moderation of the neighbours, the 

bird has done well and has continued to extend its range. Grouse 

have been seen at Elsenborn, Sourbrondt, and even many miles from 

Malmedy. 

We have two migratibMl visits from the woodcock, the bird flying 

north in March and returning south in October. Few shoots are got 

up in its special honour, but in the woods, durino- the 

^ ^ & Woodcock. 

pheasant or hare shooting, the cry of "Mark over! 

Cock ! " acts like an electric shock among the guns ; and surely, with 

its last gasp, the bird might utter the poet's Sic non vobis ! Woodcock 

shooting over a pointer, or with a brace of cockers, is also practised, 

but, though a method in every way worthy of a sportsman, is less in 

favour than the chance shooting aforementioned. Another very 

favourite method of shooting woodcock in Belgium is to lie in 

ambush for it at twilight. This is locally known as chasse a la 

croiih\ and is practised in March. As, however, the woodcock is 



88 SPORT IN EUROPE 

paired, besides being unfit for the table, at that season, 1 venture to 

condemn this method, against which the sportsman's conscience should 

protest. Woodcock are becoming rarer every year. In former years 

sportsmen could shoot their ten or fifteen birds on good days, but 

no such luck is now heard of. 

Snipe are shot much as in England. The best snipe swamps 

are those towards the Dutch frontier, but the birds are also found 

in a number of the wet lowlands in Flanders, districts 
Snipe. 

intersected with ditches and trenches. The half snipe 

and jack snipe are common enough, but double snipe are rarely 

encountered. 

The hazel-hen, with every shade of red and brown in its plumage, 

is a handsome bird. The body is of an ash grey, dotted with brown ; 

on the back are crescent black markings with a white 
Hazel-hen. 

edge, while a grey down covers the legs and feel of 

both sexes. The hazel-hen occurs along the course of the Semoy in 

Luxemburg, and in the forests on the French frontier, towards 

Montherme and Longwy. 

The capercailzie, which may be regarded as the feathered big 

game of the Haute- Ardennes, is said to have been 
Capercailzie. 

shot there to the weight of over 12 lbs. It is pretty 

plentiful, and is shot by the same methods as in Scotland and 
Germany. 

The true home of the wild fowl in these parts is Holland, but 
Belgium derives considerable advantage from the proximity of that 
country, and, as mentioned above, the Scheldt embraces some admir- 
able fowling waters. 



BELGIUM 89 

Among record shots may be mentioned one of seventy-two duck 
and teal, a second of twenty-one wigeon, and a third of eighteen 

wild geese, all by a professional fowler ot Antwerp, 

Wild Fowl, 
by name Henri Saeys. Last year M. Ouinet, a well- 
known sportsman, had the good luck to bag thirty-two duck at one 
discharge of his punt gun ; and shots bringing down from seven 
to fourteen birds are frequent. Passengers on the line between 
Antwerp and Harwich have often an opportunity of following with 
interest the manoeuvres of a punt working up to a flock of duck 
in the Scheer de Weerde, or near the banks of Saeffingen or 
Ossemisse. The wild-fowler desirous of trying his luck in the 
Scheldt should engage the services of a professional, who also 
serves as pilot. (It is, by the way, necessary to provision the ex- 
pedition at Antwerp, as the villages of Belgium and Holland are 
not to be relied on for such purposes.) It must also be borne in 
mind that the navio-atioYf of the Scheldt is, once out of the 
ordinary channel, very difficult and calls for great care, particularly 
on a falling tide. The punt accommodates two persons, and the 
currents are formidable in certain spots and at certain stages of 
the tide. 

As I said on an earlier page, a number of landowners object to 
the publication of statistics. For those, however, who are curious 
to know what we should call a good day's bag, the following authentic 
returns may be of interest. 

1. On the estate of M. Hippolyte Meens on the heaths of Schooten : 
1,100 head, including 15 hares, 1 woodcock, 139 pheasants; the rest 
rabbits. 



90 SPORT IN EUROPE 

2. On the estate of the Chevalier Van Havre, at Wyneghem : 
275 pheasants, 41 hares, 710 rabbits — total 1,026 head. 

3. On the estate of Baron Coppens, at the Castle of Humain 

(Aye): nineteen guns bagged 1,110 head, hares and rabbits, roedeer, 

pheasants and woodcock. 
Statistics. 

4. On the estate of Baron de Woot de Janec. during 

a two days' drive : 1,800 head, including 29 roedeer. 

5. On the estate of the Prince de Croy, at the Castle of Roeulx : 
500 head. 

6. On the estate of M. de Garcia, Castle of Flestroy : 610 rabbits, 
420 hares, 1 54 pheasants. 

7. On the estate of the Baron Van der Straeten, Castle of 
Waillet : 1,290 head, including roedeer, woodcock, hares, and a large 
proportion of rabbits. 

Drives of five or six hundred head are by no means uncommon. 

This concludes all that I have to say under the head of shooting, 
and it does not seem desirable to include any more information, 
considering the space allotted, but to offer a few remarks on tin- sport 
of fishing. 

IV.— FISHING 

For the foreigner desirous of fishing in Belgian rivers it is very 
advisable to ascertain beforehand whether the fishing is open in tin- 
localities he intends to visit. Some rivers arc free. 

Preserved 

„. while others are preserved, and information beforehand 

is the only way to save disappointments. Fresh-water 

fishing always entails a licence, which may be procured at the post 



BELGIUM 91 

office, the cost varying according to the style of fishing for which 

it is taken out. Moreover, it is essential to take note of the various 

close seasons. 

Thanks to the action of the Belgian Government, the salmon 

is reappearing in the Meuse and its tributaries. Certainly it is not 

yet very plentiful, but there is always the hope of 

Salmon. 
coming- across one when trout fishing-, since, in these 

waters at any rate, the two species take much the same baits. Salmon 
parr are taken in numbers in the Ambleve and also in the Ourthe, the 
local bait being a red earthworm. 

In like manner, the serious efforts of the Government, and par- 
ticularly of the Department of Streams and Forests, have averted the 

total extermination of the trout. Trout fishing is now 

. Trout- 

forbidden during fixed periods of considerable duration, 

so that the fish is now showing up again in waters that it had 

forsaken, and is once more' abundant in those in which its numbers had 

dwindled. The trout occurs only in the system of the Meuse, 

particularly in those tributaries that drain the provinces of Liege, 

Namur and Luxemburg. 

The rainbow trout, of American origin, thrives in the cold waters 
of the Ardennes, and even in the ponds of La Hulpe, Rainbow 
Court St. Etienne, Groenendael. It is an exceedingly Trout. 
voracious and sporting fish, and is taken weighing as much as 
5 kilogrammes.* 

Among the very considerable number of coarse fish to be found 
in Belgian waters, mention may be made of eight. The barbel 

* i,e. over 10 lbs. 



92 SPORT IN EUROPE 

is found in the Mouse and its tributaries, and is said to grow to 
a weight of six to eight kilos.* The tackle must therefore be 
strong, and the fish should be sought in the disturbed waters near 
falls or mill streams, where the angler has to strike hard and play 
this powerful fish with care. Ikirbel are also taken on ground lines. 
The bream, a fish of only moderate size (three to four kilos.), is 
plentiful in the Lys, the favourite bait being Gruyere cheese. The 
pike occurs in all our rivers, ami may be looked lor just below 
the mouth of any little tributary. A swivel is used on the line. 
and the bait is any small and lively fish. Personally, I regard 
striking a pike as very necessary, but some differ from this view. 

(In Holland, by the way, the Canal of Verneugen is 

Coarse 

_. , . famous for its pike, and may also be commended to 

Fishing. ' ' 

the wild-fowler whenever the weather is too rough for 
punting.) The spoon bait is found to answer well in disturbed 
water. The carp (four species) is fairly common in Belgium, and 
is caught by the same methods as in England, The cat-fish, the 
llesh of which is thought highly of, was introduced into our waters 
some years ago, though its spawning there seems still a matter ot 
doubt. Personally, I never had the good luck to catch one of 
these rarities. The chub is found in all our running waters, and 
is so voracious that it seems to take almost any bait ami to Iced 
at all times. Its weight may be anything up to six kilos. The 
ide occurs in the running waters of the Scheldt, the Lys and the 
Denclre. Besides the commoner dark kind, there is also a red 

* i.e. 13 to 17 lbs. These are the reputed weights of Meuse barbel, and I give them from 

the article. — Ed. 



BELGIUM 



93 









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A USEFUL SPORTING BOAT 



variety, introduced from Germany, that grows to a weight of four 
or five kilos., and fights gamely when hooked. The perch is taken 
by a variety of methods, with both live and artificial bait, and weighs 
between one and two kilos. 

These are the chief fish of Belgian rivers, but there are others. 
There is, for instance, the char, introduced from Switzerland, and 
found in the lake of Gilleppe. Then there is the grayling, found 
in the Meuse and its tributaries, particularly affecting the neigh- 
bourhood of small falls or the embouchures of brooks. The sander, 



94 SPORT IN EUROPE 

or pike-perch, is also an inhabitant of Belgian rivers ; and, lastly, 
the flounder is taken in brackish tidal waters, particularly in the 
lower reaches of the Scheldt, Rupel, Nethe and Dunne. 

As regards sea-fishing, it may safely be affirmed that not a single 

Belgian yachting man ever practises it as a sport. A very few may 
have a trawl aboard, with which they keep the table supplied with 
fresh fish, or at most amuse those occasional lady visitors who care- 
about seeing the great purse emptied of its treasures. One can 
scarcely describe under the head of sport the isolated attempts of 

those occasional fishermen who hang out a line, or 
Sea Fishing. 

manipulate the fixed nets, on the piers of such watering 

places as Blankenberghe, Ostend, or Nieuport. Those who use 

the line may be advised to try the canals near the bathing stations 

at Heyst or any of the aforementioned places. Permission to 

fish in these is usually easy to obtain, occasionally entailing a slight 

outlay. Live shrimps (Flemish, Steurcrab) and mussels are both 

excellent baits. 



DENMARK 



o- 




pagt J7 



DENMARK 

By BARON O. REEDTZ-THOTT 

^^ HOOTING in Denmark is not in a condition particularly to 

' attract foreign sportsmen to the country. The result is, as a 

rule, insignificant in comparison with what can be 

bag-aed in other countries. The principal shooting in ^ 

&& r r b Rights. 

season falls in autumn, at a time when most sports- 
men are engaged with the sport of their own country. Lastly, 
the shooting rights are not favourable to foreigners. The fact is, 
that these shooting rights follow the rights of holding, and cannot 
for any length of time be 1 * 'separated from the rights of ownership, 
each peasant, whether owner or tenant of his property, having the 
right of shooting on the property he tills, unless a special arrangement 
has been concluded. It is possible to rent the shooting, and when 
the peasant farms are sold, or allotted, from the large estates, an 
arrangement is often made by which the peasant cedes his rights 
of shooting against a reduction of the yearly rent or of the interest 
on the mortgage. Separated, however, from these larger properties, 
the shooting is not worth much ; and, even among Danish sportsmen, 
it is not very common to rent such shooting, as they prefer rather to 
go to Sweden, or even, in some cases, to Hungary or Albania. 

The best shooting in Denmark, as in most cultivated countries, 

H 97 



98 SPORT IN EUROPE 

is found on the large properties with adjacent woodland, or, in some 

cases, on the large wooded areas owned l>y the State 

Shooting on m t ] lc nort i, f / ca ] aiu i or j n [ u dand. Besides the 

the Large 

Estates purely natural advantages afforded by the large estates, 

much is there done for the rearing and improvement of 

the game and for the suppression of poaching. On account of the 

very mild punishments fixed by the game laws, poachers are rather 
numerous, but most of them, and especially of those caught, are 
people who poach tor pleasure rather than for a livelihood. The 
professional poacher, who is far more injurious and more difficult to 
catch, certainly exists, especially in places where the head of game- 
is large and other conditions favourable, but the pecuniary result 
of his trade is often small. As remarked above, the penalties arc 
very mild, and the game laws of Denmark suffer from the fact that 
the Danish Parliament is not concerned with sport, but only with 
party interests and general political matters. The result is often a 
democratic legislation, not in harmony with the interests of sport. 
Save in the deer parks, deer are found only where large and 

compact wooded areas, partly owned by the State 
Deer. 

and partly by private gentlemen, offer them sufficient 

room and shelter. 

Fallow deer are found in the wooded domains of the Suite in 

northern Zealand, as well as in the possession of private owners. 

whose woods and means are large enough to allow 
Fallow Deer. 

such a luxury. That the red and tallow deer have 

been destroyed on many estates, anil are now less numerous than of 

yore, is owing principally to the excessive culture of the -round. 



DENMARK 99 

which permits neither peasant nor owner to have his corn trampled 
down or otherwise destroyed. The culture of the woods, too, suffers 
much from a large head of game being kept up, and this necessitates 
expensive enclosures. These considerations, together with the shyness 
of all deer, account for the legislature not having established any close 
time for this game. At a few large drives it is true that red deer, and 
still more fallow deer, are brought down with shot, but, as already 
said, they are very shy and difficult to drive with other game, and 
most sportsmen desire without doubt to kill this fine game with the 
rifle only. 

The number of sportsmen having a somewhat regular opportunity 
of getting this interesting sport is very limited. 

The manner in which it is carried on offers nothing particular to 

distinguish it from the ordinary methods of stalking. Sometimes it 

is done on foot, but frequently a carriage is used. 

Deer-stalking. 
The absence of mountains and even lofty hills in 

the country makes this sport far less fatiguing than Scotch deer- 
stalking, but the denseness of the forests and the inclination of the 
game to hide during the greater part of the day present many 
difficulties. 

Roedeer, as also hares and partridges, may be said to be pretty 
numerous all over the country, and are, taken as a whole, the most 
important objects of sport in Denmark. 

The roedeer are numerous in the wooded parts of the country 

and on the larger properties, where the right of shooting is in few 

hands, and where shooting is pursued with moderation, 

Roedeer. 
and protection against poachers and vermin is energetic. 



ioo SPORT IN EUROPE 

This game is shot in different ways, according to season. In the 

autumn it falls to the shot-gun, when beaters are employed, and is 

bagged with hares, foxes, and pheasants ; but it is 

_, capricious and shy, and therefore difficult to drive 

Shot-guns. ' ' 

together with other game. The roe are rarely there- 
fore in proportion to the other kinds shot on these occasions. The 
roedeer is best driven together with the fox, as both require that 
some account shall be taken of the wind, as well as exact knowledge 
of the locality and the habits ot the game. 

The foxes and fox-shootings are not so numerous as they used 
to be fifteen to twenty years ago, for the sportsmen now want 
heavier bags of hares and pheasants, so the foxes are in many 
places destroyed by traps or poison. 

That shooting with beaters is more lively and the bags much 
larger is unquestionable, but the sportsman gets to some extent 
demoralised. He is not, as he should be, quiet as a mouse at his 
post ; he is inclined to chatter with his neighbour ; and he even 
indulges in an occasional cigarette. The roedeer sees him, gets 
scent of him, and then breaks back through the line of beaters. 

The most amusing and best -appreciated sport is to shoot the 

roedeer with rifie, either in the winter, when the animals are less 

shy, and the snow makes it easier to follow a wounded 

_.„ deer, or in summer, when only the buck must be shot. 

Rifle. 

On good shooting grounds the sport may be combined 
with an agreeable after-dinner drive. You jump from your brake 
at a proper distance from the buck, and lire while his attention is 
drawn to the carriage ; but the best shooting is on foot, for prefen 



DENMARK 101 

at sunrise. Red-lettered in the sportsman's diary are the recollections 

of such an early summer morning, when nature wakes refreshed after 

the repose of the night, when the grass is beaded with glittering 

pearls of dew, and when the cautious, fleet buck puts great demands 

on the instincts of the sportsman, on his knowledge of the wood, and 

on his steady eye and hand. The buck may be shot from the middle 

of September to July the 15th ; the doe only up to January the 1st. 

Hare shooting takes place from September the 20th to December 

the 24th, and about coincides with the partridge season. These 

two kinds of game are, therefore, often shot together, 

i • Hare. 

especially on larger shooting grounds and in places 

where the hares are not sufficiently numerous to be driven ; but by 

far the greater part are killed in drives at the end of October and 

commencement of November, when a bag of from one to two hundred 

in two days' shooting is not now uncommon. 

Contrary to the German fashion, the sportsmen are nearly always 
placed in a line, or in an angle along a hedge or other natural cover, 
against which, or against _one side of which, the beaters advance 
perpendicularly. A hare drive lasts from half an hour to three- 
quarters, and on a good stand a sportsman often bags from ten to 
fifteen hares. 

Partridge shooting, which lasts from September the 15th to 

December the 1st, is probably the sport in Denmark which occupies 

people most, and gives occasion for most work. The 

Partridge, 
weather is discussed as to its good or bad influence on 

the breeding and fate of the young birds ; general concern is shown 

when the hay harvest disturbs and destroys main nests; plans and 



io2 SPORT IN EUROPE 

holidays are arranged in such a way that you may be present at 

the first and best part of the season ; and the gamekeepers make 

investigations as to the number of the coveys and their coverts. 

and exercise and train the dogs for the great opening day. Soon 

after sunrise on September the 1 6th the whole 

" ' ** country resounds with the firing of hundreds of guns 
Day. 

belonging to very different classes of sportsmen from 
the peasant who owns a few coveys, to the noblest and richest 
sportsmen in the land. 

The partridges are fortunately shot exclusively over dugs. Should 
driving ever be employed, the sport will lose much of its attraction. 
Many amusing and difficult shots would no doubt be recorded, but 
this would not compensate for the interest and amusement in seeing 
the working of the dogs. To see a pure-bred, well-shaped dog tackle 
its problem in a clever, intelligent, and individual manner is, 1 believe, 
half the pleasure of a good day's partridge shooting to most Danish 
sportsmen. Both setters and pointers are used, especially the latter, 
heavy as well as light. 

Of late years a good many pointers have been imported from 

Germany and England, which have greatly improved the breed 

of our sporting dogs. Great demands are made in 

^ •* Denmark on a sporting dog. In the summer it is used 
Dogs. r s s 

for duck and snipe shooting, and it must consequently 
be willing to go in the water ; then comes partridge shooting and. 
later on, the pheasant season. Finally, we have tin- woodcocks as 
well, and many dogs are besides taken to Sweden and Norway for 
the blackcock ami ptarmigan shooting. A good dog must not run 



DENMARK 



103 



after the hare ; it must know how to retrieve, and still point well. 
These are great demands, but they are often fulfilled. 

A bag of partridges varies very much. Twenty brace must be 
considered very good ; ten or twelve may be called an average bag 
for two to four guns. 

It is about thirty years since pheasant-breeding was started in 

Denmark. When it was seen how well this foreign game thrived 

and stood the climate, many landed proprietors 

Pheasants. 
followed the example, and these handsome birds are 

now pretty numerous in many different parts of the country, especi- 
ally in the southern part of Zealand, in Fiinen, and Langeland, 
where they are bred in such quantities, and on so many properties, 
that they spread thence to the adjacent lands. 

The bags of a single shoot are not to be compared to what is 
killed at a shoot in England ; in a few places, eight or u sua i Bags 
nine hundred birds are obtained at from two to three 
days' shooting, but generally speaking the result is much smaller. 

The shooting of wild ducks and geese, as well as a quantity 

of different kind of waders and water-fowls is, owing" 

. Wild Fowl. 

to the natural conditions of the country, its many 

fjords and islets, and its low foreshore, with large stretches left 

dry by the ebbing tide, very satisfactory in Denmark. 

Duck shooting commences on July the 15th, and is carried on either 

from a boat on the lakes, or along reedy shores, or, later in the 

summer, the sportsman hides himself and waits in the 

Duck, 
evening for the clucks, when the birds lly inland from 

the sea to bogs or smaller ponds, Several of our water-fowl are 



104 SPORT IN EUROPE 

now allowed a close time until so late in the summer that the bags 

are in many places much smaller than they formerly were. Other 

kinds, especially snipe, may be shot from August the [St; but as 

cultivation advances, and meadows and bogs are drained, 
Snipe. . . 

so does this game disappear and migrate to places 

where it can find quiet and better conditions for living. In the 

meadows and boos of Jutland, and on its west coast, good sport is 

still to be had, and an interesting and varied bag may be obtained. 

from the heron and the goose to the smallest wild water-fowl. 

Seals are pretty numerous along- the coasts of Denmark, and 

are especially found where dry stone reefs, or sand-banks, extend 

far out into the sea, and afford them opportunity 
Seals. 

during the summer to sun themselves undisturbed 

and bring up their offspring. The Government pays a premium of 
three krone* for each seal-tail, as a check on the damage these animals 
do to the fishing ; and this circumstance, together with the value of 
the fat, induces the fishermen to kill a considerable quantity every 
year. The bags are especially large during the summer, when the 
new-born whelps are surprised on land, where they are slain with 
clubs. To the patient hunter, who handles his rifle with sufficient 
ability, seal shooting offers, however, good sport, at several places 
specially favourable for this purpose. One of the best spots is 
a long narrow stone reef, shooting out from a small island in the 
Cattegat, north of Zealand. There is sufficient room for two guns, 
who post themselves behind big stones, one on each side <>| the red. 
and there await the arrival of the seals. 

* The Danish "crown" is valued at about is. \\i/. 



DENMARK 



105 



Sometimes the wind is such that the seals do not go near the reef 
at all ; but under favourable circumstances they will swim up along- 
side, as a rule only showing the head and a little of the neck over the 
water-line. When to this we add the fact that the sea is often agitated 
and choppy, it will be understood that a seal's head at one hundred 
yards is a sporting target for a good shot. If the seal is hit, a spot of 
blood is at once seen on the water ; if killed immediately, the seal will 
be found straight underneath on the bottom ; but, if only wounded, 
there is very little chance of finding him. If the seal has gone down 
in deep water, it is difficult to see him and to bring him to the surface. 
Sometimes you may be fortunate enough to shoot a seal while he suns 
himself on a stone, but as the animal is very shy and cautious, the 
range is as a rule very long. The result of such a day's shooting is 
naturally not great. Sometimes most of the day is spent on the reef 
without result, and at other times you may bring home two seals in 
your boat. After a few^d&ys' shooting, at the same place, the seals 
very often do not approach the reef, but migrate for some time to 
other spots till peace is restored. 



If in the preceding pages I have not mentioned different kinds 
of game which are numerous and offer good sport in the countries 
adjoining Denmark, the reason is that they are either not to be 
found, or are present in such small quantities that they do not offer 
any general interest. With these latter must be counted the black- 
cock ; and among the first are the ptarmigan, the rabbit and the 
grouse, 



io6 SPORT IN EUROPE 



II.— HUNTING 



No hunting is done in Denmark. On a single propert) the stag 

was hunted some few years ago, but the sport was given up again. 

The reason is probably that the means arc not sufficient, and the 
interest for riding not general enough to keep such an expensive sport 
going. The extensive small allotment of the soil and advanced culture 
of the ground may also be held partly accountable. 

The fox, which in England is the principal object of hunting, is 
moreover shot in Denmark, and is considered the finest and most 
appreciated game at a drive. The care taken of the pheasants has, 
however, induced many landowners to exterminate the fox as 
thoroughly as possible, both with trap, gun and poison, to such an 
extent that only a few foxes are to be seen where fifteen years ago 
you could kill about forty in three days' shooting. 

III.— FISHING 

About fishing also there is, 1 am sorry to say. not much to ln- 
said. The pike is pretty general over the whole country in lakes, 

ponds, and running water, and is, during the summer, 
Pike. 5 

the object of a certain amount ot sport, but the more 

appreciated kinds of fish, the salmon and the trout, which draw SO 
many sportsmen, for instance, to Norway, are not numerous. 



FRANCE 



;■'« 




I Al.l.nw DEER 



.' 



FRANCE 

By PAUL CAILLARD 

ALTHOUGH the French have with surprising aptitude given 
■*■ *■ themselves up to hard training for sport, it would indeed be 
difficult to institute any satisfactory comparison between the French 
and English modes of practising it. In the case of any other 
European nation such comparison would be frankly impossible. 
Since the end of the reign of Charles X. English customs, and, along 
with them, almost all the forms of sport in vogue in England, have 
little by little established themselves in France. This is particularly 
noticeable under the SWond Empire, and it was then that the 
manners of our neighbours became in great measure acclimatised. 
It was a strange sight for the two neighbouring nations, this mutual 
adoption of the other's customs. 

It was at that period that the physical education, which had up 
till then been sadly neglected in France, was adopted by some of 
our most influential families on the English model. England is, in 
fact, the natural home of those bodily recreations that have made 
for her a race of powerful young men of exceptional endurance, 
men who devote their leisure to that incessant striving in compe- 
titions which is bound to save them from degenerating, as they 

would otherwise do in a life devoid of such physical exercises, 

109 



no SPORT IN EUROPE 

besides increasing their courage and their indifference to the risk 
of death. 

Is the true quality of a sportsman known in France ? 

With us, it is true, anyone possessing one or two horses, looked 
after by some trainer, is a "sportsman"; and if he only wins ,i 
race or so, he at once becomes "the noted sportsman.' The gentle- 
man, again, who gets together a few baskets of living 

..„ „ game, bought overnight, or even rears it in his poultry- 

" Sportsman.' ° & ° l 

yard, is a sportsman whose fame is sung by the news 
papers as soon as he has had it all killed by "great shots" invited 
down to the slaughter. He, too, who hires some kind of yacht 
and in it parades off the coasts of England and France, under tin- 
guidance of a crew, is a "sportsman"; and, to become a " celebrated 
sportsman," he has only to enter his hired yacht for some race and 
win, with the help of his hired crew. 

It would be easy, indeed, to extend these instances of the applica- 
tion of the title to a crowd of folks who are incapable of sitting on 
a horse, shooting even a sparrow, pulling an oar, or hooking so much 
as a frog. 

To be frank, the true sportsman, the man of sports, is a rara avis 
in France. He is not, indeed, common in England. The true 
all-round sportsman should be able to ride across country and over 
all manner of obstacles; to drop birds that fly so rapidly that tin- 
point to aim at is far ahead of them; to take the tiller of a yacht 
on the open sea, where the slightest error might mean destruction ; to 
play racquets with skill; to lure a great salmon of perhaps 30IDS. 
to the artificial fly, and keep it in play, maybe for hours, on a trace 



FRANCE 1 1 1 

of single gut, tiring it by sheer skill, handiness, and patience — these 
are the qualifications of the sportsman. 

An examination of the present generation of Frenchmen on its 
sporting merits will show, above all, progress in horsemanship. This 
improvement has been continuous these thirty years, so that we now 
possess horsemen of first rank, capable of entering in cross-country 
steeplechases with the finest riders in the world. Moreover, their 
knowledge of horsemanship is very considerable, and they would get 
out of their horses more than the finest horsemen in England. 

Again, the sword is in great esteem in France, and we are among 
the best swordsmen in the world. 

Our fleet of yachts is also becoming remarkably good. Our 
tennis players are also excellent. In fact, the schoolboys are imitat- 
ing the students at English universities, devoting themselves keenly 
to sport and games, in which indeed they are beginning to take a 
position the more praiseworthy since it is only gradually, as folks 
grope their way out from earlier ignorance, that they have got in a 
position to compete with the English champions. 

And it must, moreover, be remembered that we are handicapped, 
for the considerable means at the disposal of the better class in 
England allow sportsmen to attempt things on a scale prohibitive to 
us. Thus, English yachting men often commission the construction 
of several boats in order to carry off a big race. Thousands of 
pounds sterling support every season the yards of the yacht-builders 
in England, and it is from them that we derive all the most im- 
portant elements of our own pleasure craft. There is a lack of 
money among us, and there is a corresponding lack of yacht- 



ii2 SPORT IN EUROPE 

builders. The large racing stables in England turn out hundreds 
of thoroughbreds, improving the breed by a continual selection. We 
are bound to employ their trainers and their jockeys, and our breed- 
ing, though increasing each year, is limited. It is all the want of 
money ; if money is the sinews of war, it is also the sinews of the 
higher kinds of sport. And if we review those sports which have 
real agricultural or commercial importance, we shall soon be con- 
vinced that it is usually the lack of necessary means that paraK 
our endeavours. 

We have breeders of the first order, and our horses and hounds 
are equal, if not indeed superior, to any in England. Pigeon shoot- 
ing has produced a class of shooters that would bear comparison 
with any in Europe, and such of our hunting men as have kept up 
the traditions of a thoroughly French art have by judicious crosses 
formed splendid packs of hounds, though fairness demands the 
admission that our hound-breeders owe their success to crossing 
with English blood. It would also be as well not to take credit 
for an error noticed by all who have resided in England. That is 
to say, the sport ot foxhunting is one in which the qualities of horse 
and horseman are above all in evidence, and it matters little whether 
the hounds kill several foxes in succession, so long as the country 
is attractive, the fields green, the obstacles surmountable, and the 
pace that of an express train. If we leave the shires, where these 
wonderful horsemen vie with one another on mounts of great power, 
and if we visit Somerset, we find packs chasing the wild stag like 
our French packs, which we are always glad to increase with drafts 
from England. 



FRANCE 113 

In all France we have only one regularly worked pack of fox- 
hounds, and that is at Pau, in that wonderful country in which, in 
the spring sunshine, all the foxhunters of Europe seem 

to meet up, the pick of both French and foreign „ 

1 , ° at Pau. 

sportsmen. The horizon is bounded by the highest 
snow-capped peaks of the Pyrenees, and a splendid sight presents 
itself on all sides to the galloping horsemen as they cover the soft 
and springy ground. Pau, then, is the only district in France in 
which it is possible for the lover of foxhunting to indulge in his 
favourite sport. Experiments made in other parts of the country 
have not proved successful, for the sport requires a particular kind 
of country, open and intersected by obstacles, and not far from a 
town, and these conditions combine only in the neighbourhood 
of Pau. 

As was said above, it is fair not to labour under any error in 
respect of the faculties bC' 'the English hunting man, and mention 
was made of the staghounds of Somerset. I have, let me hasten 
to add, seen in other counties packs of beagles and harriers, worked 
in the perfection of hunting science and regularly hunting the hare. 

I have also watched packs of otter hounds after otters. Contrary 
to the belief prevalent in continental countries, the English are very 
good hunting men, particularly when there is any call for coolness or 
for special knowledge of the habits and tricks of the quarry. It is 
true that French venery is of greater antiquity, but it will not do to 
forget that it Is to crossing with the pure English foxhound that we 
owe our wonderful establishments of bdtards, and that it is also owing 

to this crossing that hunting has been brought within the reach of 

1 



ii 4 SPORT IN EUROPK 

those who cannot afford to keep fifty couple of hounds, form relays, 
and maintain an establishment of huntsmen. These have now been 
enabled to set up small packs of ddtards, which allow of their hunting 
every kind of animal without relays, including the roedeer, an animal 

that, forty years ago, it was regarded as almost impossible to hunt. 

It is then unquestionably to England that we owe the improve 
ment of our breeds of horses, hounds, and all manner of domesticated 
animals. It is equally to England that we owe, through the intro- 
duction of sports, the improvement of our race by those physical 
exercises to which the younger generation which has charge of the 
future is now devoting itself with keen ardour and very remarkable 
intuition. 

Racing has turned out good riders and good horses. Thirty years 
ago it wits possible to reckon up the officers who rode really well, but 
to-day they are legion. 

Thirty years ago too a few little craft competed for prizes valued 
at a few francs on the Seine at Argenteuil. To-day we have a fleet 
of pleasure craft, handsome yachts manoeuvred by large crews, and 
capable of taking part in the great internation.il regattas. 

It is now necessary to review the French sports in which it is 
possible for visitors to lake part, and to give them some idea ol 
French methods. 

[.—HUNTING 

We will first take hunting, which is represented in France by .1 
number of packs used lor the stag, the roedeer, the boar, the wolf, the 

hare, the fox. and the otter. 



FRANCE 115 

As regards foxhunting", I have already mentioned the single 

successful pack in France, that which meets at Pau. 

Fox. 

English custom prevails there, and whoever has a 

mount is at liberty to follow hounds. 

This is, however, by no means the case with the majority of 

packs round Paris or in the provinces that have other quarry. 

Before taking part in the hunt it is necessary to be 

Stag, 
presented to the master and received by him ; and 

strangers, who have no one to introduce them, usually present them- 
selves to the master direct, and are then generally allowed to follow 
the hounds. 

The most popular hunts are those of staghounds in the neigh- 
bourhood of Paris, at Chantilly, Villers Cottrets, Rambouillet, Com- 
piegne, and Fontainebleau. The field is generally very large, and 
there are numerous trains that leave Paris in the morning and 
return in the evening. These packs usually hunt the stag and 
wild boar. There is not a single department without one or two 
packs of hounds, nearly all of which are a cross between the fox- 
hound and our older French breeds. A few even consist of pure 
foxhounds only. 

And here I must digress in order to give some account of a 
quite unique pack, composed entirely of hounds of the pure old 
French race, and preserved with jealous care by its owners for very 
many years. This pack, which hunts the roebuck in the department 
ot the Landes, is the property of Baron de Carayon La Tour. It 
is known as the Virelade pack, and the breed of dogs goes by the 
same name. 



n6 



SPORT IN EUROPK 



i 


** 




' r 7T 












f| *3 




n 


— « — j - 





"M1KLIKLOKE. ONE OF THE YIKELU'h PACK 



This Yirelade breed has its origin in crosses between tin- dogs 
of Sainton<, r e and those of Gascony, the oldest races 
of French blood. It is not a creation, but rather an 
improvement, a reforming of these two kinds th.it 
originate from a common source. 



The Virelade 
Pack. 



FRANCE 117 

In 1863 the Baron Joseph de Carayon La Tour wrote as follows : — 

"I was instructed in the principles of hunting by Count de St. Legier and Baron 
de Ruble. Both these sportsmen, jealous of preserving the old traditions, loved the 
chase as a science with its precepts and its laws. Count de St. Legier had a race of 
dogs of Saintonge, which he had carefully preserved throughout his long life. Several 
individuals of that race are still in the possession of his grandson, Viscount Henri de 
St. Legier. Baron de Ruble had a preference for the race known as dogs of Gascony, 
as ancient as the other, of which to-day he is still the fortunate possessor. These 
two breeds were of the same build, their height ranging from 23 to 25 inches. 
They possessed the qualities that have always distinguished the French hound — very 
high nose, a deep voice, and a proud and upright bearing. The dogs of Saintonge, 
with their white skin marked with black, had a delicate head, ears which doubled 
over, the neck long and slender, deep chest, the back well formed but narrow, the 
thighs flat, the tail carried low, the paw dry and sinewy. The dogs of Gascony had 
the hair bluish, marked with black, powerful head, the ear long and doubled over, the 
lips somewhat pendulous, the back broad and muscular, the ribs rather projecting, 
the tail small and held over the back, and the limbs very powerful. 

" The former were delicate, hard to train, lacking control, and offending chiefly by 
reason of their temperament, the result of the regrettable persistence with which the 
Count de St. Legier had bred only 'among the pack, erroneously attaching no importance 
to the grave and inevitable consequences of this inbreeding. Nevertheless this race 
had in its great days, in spite of a lack of energy, a wonderful doggedness in keeping on 
the trail, which showed, at any rate, a true love of the chase and a noble ancestry. The 
dogs of Gascony, on the other hand, were of robust health, intelligent, keen, and active 
when at fault. They followed the wolf with passion, the hare with rare skill. Besides 
these two races, there were one or two isolated kinds in the Gironde, the remains of the , 
old kennels of a Bordeaux society, presided over by M. Desfoumiel. These dogs, known 
as the Bordeaux race, had much in common with the Saintonge and Gascony breeds 
described above. M. Desfoumiel, an excellent huntsman and devoted adherent of the 
French chase, had bred some very handsome individuals, of which I have exhibited 
some examples that have been most useful to me. These kinds, of which there is no 
description in the older works on hunting, must have had a similar origin, resulting 
no doubt from the crossing of the blue and black dogs mentioned by King Charles l.\. 
in his treatise on hunting. I first made acquaintance with hunting, then, in presence 
of the oldest and purest races of French hounds. Having hail many opportunities 



FRANCE 119 

of hunting with the finest packs in the north of France, and of watching the work of 
a number of packs of English hounds and crosses, I was allowed to judge of the 
qualities of the different breeds, and I did not hesitate to accord the palm to the 
French. '■Droit dans la void' was the motto of my kennels, and I devoted myself 
patiently to the development of the race known as Yirelade. Judicious couplings, 
aided by a careful education, have produced the dogs that to-day fill my kennels. 
The union of the races of Gascony and Saintonge has strengthened the blood of 
both, and strength and robustness have combined with elegance and lightness. It 
pleases me to recognise that I should have had the greatest difficulty in arriving at 
my object if I had not found in James Baratte, who has kept the stud-book, a 
most intelligent huntsman, devoted, indeed passionately attached, to the chase and 
to French hounds." 

Thus wrote the Baron Carayon La Tour seven-and-thirty years ago, 
and I have been lucky in getting this extract from his nephew, the 
present master, who carries on with perseverance his uncle's work. 
I am also able to present readers of Sport in Eiirope with the portrait 
of one of the most noted hounds of the breed, " Mirliflore," a life-sized 
picture of which hangs in the dining-hall of the Chateau de Virelade. 

I have thought it not only interesting, but even useful, to make 
this splendid breed of hounds better known to hunting men in Europe, 
for the wonderful quality of its scent, its deep voice that makes it 
easy to follow from afar in the thickest forest, and its courage in 
attacking animals like the wolf, should make it as much sought 
after for those kinds of hunting in which fineness of scent is in- 
dispensable to success, as well as for those in which power, courage, 
and agility are the most necessary qualities. And the breed was 
appreciated, moreover, at its true value by an English writer, who 
published a long and enthusiastic account of it in connection with 
the Paris Dog Show of 1S63 in the Field of May 16th, 1 S63. 

As I have said, then, there are numerous packs in France, but 



120 



SPORT IN EUROPE 



nearly all of them are composed either of foxhounds or of crossbreeds 
with more or less foxhound blood in them. From the standpoint of 
pace after the quarry, the results obtained with these packs are all 
that could be desired ; but this rapid chase is obtained only at the 
sacrifice of other qualities, such as fineness of scent and depth <>| 




M. DE CARAYON I.A TOUR 



FRANCE 121 

voice, the latter so useful when hounds have to be followed in thick 
forests. 

For hunting the hare, there are several packs of a small French 
breed known as the briquet, or of basset hounds, a breed successfully 
cultivated for some years past in England. And, lastly, we have 
very fine breeds of griffons, which are certainly the original stock 
of the English otter-hound. A single pack of the latter has been 
introduced from England by M. de Tinguy, who hunts with them 
very successfully in Poitou, in the west of France. 

It is, then, apparent that France has remained the classic home 
of venery, and that the original French races of hounds have re- 
mained very carefully bred alongside of those crossed with the 
foxhound. I have thought it right to give precedence to the 
Virelade kennels, and I am sure that any sportsman asking leave 
of M. de Carayon La Tour to go over it, or even to take part in 
one of their interesting runs, will be made welcome. M. le Baron 
de Carayon La Tour, ex-major in a cavalry regiment, is the perfect 
type of the French gentleman. Of exquisite politeness, of a loyalty 
that wins for him the sympathy of all, and of a wit that is wholly 
French, I know none of his acquaintance who are not also his friends. 
He lives in the splendid Chateau de Grenade, adjoining his other 
property, Virelade, in the canton of Castres, Gironde. I am indebted 
to him for a portrait of himself in hunting costume. His motto is 
" Droit dans la vote." 

I think it has been right to give hunting the first place in an 
account of sport in France, for it was always held in great esteem 
by our kings, and is essentially a national sport. Unfortunately, 



122 SPORT IN EUROPE 

the division of property renders hunting more and more difficult, 

for the law prohibits the presence of dogs on the 

Decay of property of anyone, if the proprietor chooses to 

French 

Hunting- forbid right of way. Some privileged districts, where 

the old order prevails (to the profit of the people 

in the neighbourhood), still maintain their hunting establishments, 
but it is easy to foresee the time when French hunting will survive 
only as a memory of the happy past, when France was great and 
powerful and had no need to struggle with low passions and venomous 
hatreds, stirred up by envy, and when those of various sects had 
not, in their insane desire to rise to the top of the social structure, 
developed into one of the forces threatening to disorganise our 
country. 

II.— SHOOTING 

Without stopping to consider such kinds of sport as falconry, of 
which there is now but one small establishment in France, or coursing, 
which is illegal, I must now pass on to a sad subject If it may 
rightly be said that hunting" continues to hold its own as the chief 
feature of French sport, shooting is very far from being in the same 
position. The depletion of our land, once so lull of game, is all 
but completed. It is quite enough to see the quantities of foreign 
game that finds its way into France from Germany, England, Austria, 
and Russia being distributed over the whole land in order in form 
some idea of the present-day game production of France itself. 
Millions of francs, as statistics have shown, are yearly paid awaj 
for the purchase of game, living or dead, from our neighbours, ami 



FRANCE 12 



3 



these purchases are for the most part made in Germany and Austria, 
countries blessed with laws to protect the game that are strictly en- 
forced by the courts. 

Yet no country in all Europe was by nature better stocked with 

game than France in the days before the spread of the 

Reasons for 
railway gave added facilities for the sale of game, and Poverty of 

thus encouraged poaching. Many societies for its repres- French 

sion have been formed, but they seem unable to stem 

an evil that increases day by day. With the aid of a licence, costing 

twenty-seven francs, everyone is at liberty to shoot on all lands in 

which the sporting rights are not reserved by the owners, and the 

division of property has resulted in such parcelling out of the land that 

it is only the very large landowners who thus reserve the shooting 

rights. And I could even name departments in the south of France 

in which it is impossible for the proprietors to reserve their rights. In 

these shooting is absolutely free everywhere, including even the large 

estates. All attempts at prohibiting shooting have been abortive, the 

peasants of those parts regarding the shooting as a right. As already 

mentioned, it is the railways that did the mischief, for the game, at one 

time of little value, soon became sought after when its worth increased, 

and an incessant poaching made short work of the game. Birds of 

passage like quail, woodcock, ringdoves, and wild fowl of all kinds, fall 

to the gunners, though two-thirds of those who hunt them, caring 

little for sport, make use of destructive nets. Round about Arcachon, 

in the Gironde, and in the Landes, it is the nets that capture hundreds 

of birds of passage, and even at sea, in the Bay of Arcachon, there 

are permanent nets spread for the destruction of Hocks of wild duck. 



i2 4 SPORT IN EUROPE 

Everywhere, indeed, from north to south, there is an organised 

slaughter of game throughout the year. In Central France the 

prefects authorise the use of nets, even at night, to catch larks, 

shutting their eyes to any partridges that may at the same time be 

netted. In Brittany, that beautiful country that once had its grouse, 

black game, and quantities of grey and red-legged partridges, together 

with all manner of wild fowl, the partridges have become rare, while 

the grouse and black game are gone altogether. Only the woodcock 

visits it in autumn, and the woods and the banks of inland waters are 

then simply covered with snares to catch both woodcock ami snipe. 

Only in the neighbourhood of Paris, in Central France, Normandy, 

and one or two departments in the north, is the country still stocked 

with game; the best sporting estates have of course been bought 

up by the wealthy, and game farms, which have turned out great 

quantities of game in these parts, have added their results to those 

of private breeding. The battue is most in vogue, and is in fact 

the only general mode of shooting, while retrievers are the only 

dogs used. 

I should be puzzled indeed to point out to the foreigner who might 

endeavour to reside close to free shooting any district in which he 

would be likely to find game, and even to get two or 

_ . three shots in the course of a day. Only in Brittany, 

Foreigners. ' ' 

the marshes along the coast, in Finisterre, and Morbihan, 
are well stocked with snipe, and in some years the passage of wood 

cock is heavy. It is easy enough to find large estates, with a country 
house, for hire. I have had the good luck to shoot my hundred 
woodcock in a fortnight near Ouimperle, in Finisterre, and he who 



FRANCE 



I2 5 



cares about fishing can get salmon, trout, and other freshwater fish in 
the streams of that neighbourhood. 

To sum up, the north of France, consisting of great plains and 
forests, is full of game, particularly of partridges, pheasants, hares, 
rabbits, red and roe deer, and boar, but almost all the land is either 
rented or preserved by the owners themselves. The same may be 
said of the central departments and of part of the north-east, while 
the departments of the south are utterly depleted of their game. 
They only furnish, in fact, migratory birds at certain seasons of the 
year. In my opinion, Brittany alone, although denuded of most 
of its game, can delight the sportsman with its vast resources of 
migratory game, as well as quantities of such vermin as badgers, 
foxes, and martens, with a few roedeer and wild boar ; and there is 
not only the excellent fishing of its rivers for the sportsmen enchanted 
with the wild life, but also sea-fishing, which is first-rate on that coast. 

A law like that which" obtains in neighbouring countries would 
soon have restored to France her wealth of game, and the provinces 
we lost after the war of 1870 have undeniably shown in how very 
few years it was possible, under German legislation, to recover their 
sporting prosperity. Where will the mischief stop ? It is hard, 
indeed, to foresee, for poaching is by now organised, and the remedial 
penalties inflicted by the courts cannot, as far as suppressing the 
practice goes, have any result. 

At the same time, it is only fair to mention the inception ot 
numerous syndicates, associations of sportsmen, clubs having for their 
object the restocking of the great estates and the preservation of the 
game. The French nation loves sport, or rather the pursuit and 



i 2 6 SPORT IN EUROPE 

capture of animals, passionately. It is, however, true that my country- 
men shoot for the pot rather than for sport, and will as a rule 
overlook a fault in their dog so long as a wounded partridge or hare 
does not get away. Our native pointers have shared the fate ol the 
game, and have disappeared. A few rare examples of esteemed 
breeds are still in existence, and a society of breeders has existed 
for some years in Normandy with the object of re-establishing these 
breeds. No success, however, has crowned these efforts, which seem 
to me to have been mere waste. 

As long as France was one ot the best game countries in the 

world, these species of pointers seemed made for the land in which 

they had to do their work. Their shape showed that 

rrencn speed was of no service to them, for there was no need 

Sporting 

Dogs t0 nnc ^ & ame at a distance. There was plenty of it 

close at hand, and the dog was used by its master to 

recover wounded game rather than in finding it. The scent of our 

native French dogs was by no means so good as that of the newer 

breeds of pointers and setters, the chief use of which was to go 

bounding over large areas to save their masters the trouble, seeking 

game in countries in which it was the reverse of plentiful. 

As I have already mentioned, our French breeds, scattered by the 

Revolution, have for nearly a century been crossed in the wildest 

fashion and to an extent facilitated by the increase of 

Effects means of communication. With the territorial estates. 

of the 

Revolution. tnc b racns ;UK ' spaniels, reared with the greatest care 

in the castle kennels, became the property of the first 

comer. They were sent wandering through the country like wolves 



FRANCE 127 

and foxes, and they interbred. Great brachs, beautiful spaniels, grey- 
hounds and sheep-dogs — all this wandering band of the canine race 
were fused in a mixture, in which it was no longer possible to 
take up the thread in such a maze. Peace being once more estab- 
lished, the chase became a common right, of which everyone was 
ready to avail himself. Everyone then looked out for dogs and took 
such as he could lay hands on. Some knew how to choose ; others, 
quite ignorant of the proper qualities, continued the breeds of 
mongrels. The confusion went from bad to worse. 

Do we not continually see a dog closely resembling a pointer 
chasing with the throat of a greyhound a hare wounded or missed 
by its owner? It is easy in such cases to discover in the animal the 
mixture of one of our breeds of Saintonge, Vendee, "briquet," or such 
like with the pointer of olden time. 

English breeds, with an energetic manner of searching that does 
not interfere with their perfect scent, have therefore been adopted 
all over the country depleted of its game, and they have been so 
effective these last forty years that their employment is universal. 
Pointers, setters, and little spaniels, so useful in the shooting of 
birds, nowadays fill French kennels. Their good qualities have 
justified their naturalisation. An influential Society, composed of the 
pick of French sportsmen (I had the honour of being among its 
founders and on its committee), and presided over by the Prince 
of Wagram, has been formed, and looks after the dog shows of Paris 
and also the international field-trials. The Society has instituted a 
stud-book tor all breeds, and countenances with its support all 
institutions aiming at the re-establishment or improvement of the 




M. PAUL CAILLARD 



FRANCE 129 

different breeds. Needless to say, the introduction of English breeds 
was no easy matter. In 1862 we showed at the first of the dog 
shows the different breeds of pointer and setter. They were a great 
success, and took all the first prizes ; and, as the competitions were 
international, my dogs beat the pick of those sent over by English 
owners. Experience was, however, necessary, and one had to use 
these breeds in order thoroughly to understand their value and the 
way in which they were to be adapted to French sport. The 
Anglophobe also had to be combated — he who frothed at the mouth 
when mention was made of English dogs, whose eyes started from 
his head if anyone praised English guns in his presence, for the 
Anglophobe always rages even at table when he would have it that 
Medor, said to be of old and pure French blood, hunts his rabbit 
like any basset and points his pheasant like a signpost. The Marquis 
de Cherville, a well-known writer on matters of sport, has often 
written that we were responsible for the popularising of English dogs 
in France, and this assertion has been confirmed by other sporting 
writers. It is an honour to have done such a service to our sporting 
countrymen. 

Shooting over dogs, for all the scarcity of game now in the land, 
is essentially a French sport, and the advent of English dogs only 
increased the taste for it. Widespread at the present day, it must be 
confessed that they are still busy lessening the stock of game in the 
common hunting-grounds, and that the time will come when, in some 
parts of the country, protective measures encouraging its increase will 
be needed if the want of game is not to render the dogs altogether 
useless. 

K 



1 3 o SPORT IN EUROPE 

In one department of France, Corsica, the sportsman can Mini good 

sport with both rod and gun, 1 >n t the country is difficult to travel in, 

and only the coast can be exploited. The flights of 

„ . woodcock and other migratory birds are ven large, but 

Corsica. & ' ' 

every Corsican carries a gun, and the number of those 
who shoot is immense. A friend of mine, who tried several parts ol 
the island, tells me that he had only one really good day, and that was 
in a district where, on the occasion ot a wedding part)', all the country- 
folk were invited to take part. 

Shooting over dogs, then, is widespread over France, but the 
owners of the larger preserves have almost without exception adopted 

the battue. Partridge driving h;is become the favourite 
_, . sport, and some parts of the country, particularly 

Beauce, between Orleans and Chartres, are admirably 
adapted to such battues. There are vast plains, scarcely undulating, 
broken by a few little patches of wood, specially planted to afford 
cover for the partridges and preserve them from birds of prey, such 
as hawks, buzzards and the like. So full of game are these plains, 
although anything but adequately guarded against poachers, that I 
may mention a shooting, over four or five farms, on which, in 
September. [898, twenty guns bagged close on 3,000 partridges in 
two days. It must be difficult for the foreign sportsman visiting 
Prance to ascertain where he would find good game country, and I 
would suggest his applying for exact information to the Moniteur 
Ojjlciel de V Union des Sociitcs de Chasseurs de France, 11, Rue de 
l'Abbe Fleury, Argenteuil, Seine et Oise. This Society, of which 
I have the honour to be the President, is in constant communication 



FRANCE 



J 3i 



with all parts of France and with the entire shooting world. The 
Director of the Society's Journal would promptly answer all inquiries 
addressed to him on the subject. 



FISHING 

Fishing, in one form or another, is as popular among Frenchmen 
as hunting and shooting. By all classes of the community fishing is 
practised, although our fish, like our game, is diminishing day by day, 
thanks to the spread of poaching and to the want of accord among 
the three ministers responsible for the waters, the Ministers of Marine, 
Agriculture, and Public Works. 

For years the angling associations have begged for the revision of 

the law of 1829, which still regulates fishing in France. Since that 

remote period the control and exploitation of the 

fisheries have been regulated- by ordinances, decrees T ..... 

& *< ' Legislation. 

that followed the law of 1829. And to-day the same 
law, which is become confused and is inapplicable in many cases, still 
governs the right of fishing! It should be remarked that the law was 
framed at a time when railways were unknown, and when the lack of 
means of carrying fish to the different towns restricted it to local 
consumption only. Since then, in proportion as the means of trans- 
port developed and the routes of communication extended to the 
furthest districts, fresh Acts, often confused in terms, were passed to 
avert the destruction of the fisheries. 

An examination of the legal changes that have succeeded each 
other among our neighbours will show us England in the first rank, 



i 3 2 SPORT IN EUROPE 

with a legislative system perfected by different laws between i 86 i 
and 1886. The river fisheries of Belgium are regulated 

Fishery Laws by tne new | aw f t ] lc . , Qt h January, [883. In Switzer- 

in other 

Countries ' anc ^ tne fi s "i°g ' s under the federal law ol the 21 st 

December, 1881, completed by that of the 3rd June, 

1890. Fishery legislation in Prussia was improved by the laws ol 

1S74 and 1880. So that, while our laws have been stationary since 

1829, England, Switzerland, Belgium, and Germany have continually 

improved theirs, increasing their output to such an extent that the 

surplus has reached our own country to the extent of 29,990,700 

kilogrammes* of fresh river fish in nine years ! 

It seems superfluous to trace the results of this importation into 
France, a land watered by the most wonderful collection of rivers 
and streams in the world. Not only should these splendid waters 
supply fish enough for our requirements, but they should furnish fresh 
fish at a price so low as to put it within reach of the poorer cla 
now unable to enjoy it. 

The sum accruing to the State from the sale of fishing licences 
amounts to 990,000 francs annually for 12,597 kilometres, or a yield 

of 78 f. 50 c. per kilometre. The result of these 

Value of . . . , ...... ... 

R . associations is thus simply ridiculous it one compares 

it with the value of rivers in other countries. The 

river of Chateaudin (Finisterre) is a striking example of the 

decadence into which the control of our waters has fallen. Like 

almost all the rivers of Brittany, it was formerly so well stocked 

with salmon, trout, and other fish that, as in Scotland and Wales, 

* i.e. upwards of 65,000,000 lbs. avoirdupois. 



FRANCE 133 

farm labourers used to stipulate in their indentures that they should 
not have salmon to eat more than three times a week. At that not 
very distant time (1845 to 1870) the market value of a kilogramme* 
of salmon or trout was not more than from 50 to 75 centimes, and 
all fishing was then suspended when the first warmth of spring set 
in, except that pursued for their own consumption by those who 
dwelt on the banks. 

Brittany, by nature about the finest country that an angler could 
traverse, rod in hand, is become, with the exception of a part of Finis- 
terre to be specified later, as depleted as the rest of France. After the 
advent of railways in Brittany, every mode of destruction came into 
vogue. The same thing has happened wherever, the railway has fur- 
nished a market for the results of poaching, and the Breton folk have 
flung themselves on their quarry with perfect ferocity. The State, 
quite powerless, has, failing a protective law, had no choice but to look 
on at the destruction of these precious resources. 

This Chateaudin river, formerly so full of salmon and trout, can 
no longer command anything but the lowest prices for rentals of its 
waters, 74^ kilometres yielding the State a revenue of only 589 francs. 
We have, then, to contemplate the sad spectacle of this depreciation 
of the rental value of French rivers, and we see stretches of over 
five kilometres let for five francs the year ! 

The salmon, so valuable a fish, is almost vanishing from our 

rivers, and the yearly importation of salmon ranges 

. , Salmon, 

from 600,000 to 700,000 kilogrammes. From these 

statistics we may infer that France has in seven years paid her 

neighbours 20,000,000 francs lor imported salmon. 

* A kilogramme is nearly 2\ lbs. avoirdupois. 



i 3 4 SPORT IN EUROPE 

Establishments of fish-culture have been instituted, but the results 
have been nil. The alevins, consigned at too tender an age to the 
waters that it was intended to restock, were sacrificed to a certain 
death, and the establishment of Huningue, which has employed this 
method for many years without any success in replenishing our waters, 
in spite of the production of thousands of millions of fry, offers con- 
clusive evidence. A great expenditure of money is required to bring 
the alevins to an age at which their future would no longer be an 
uncertainty, that is to say, the period of their existence at which they 
are strong-- enough to look after themselves. Young fishes reared in 
the tanks of the aquarium, fed at regular hours, not being accustomed 
in their early days to seek their food or to guard against their enemies, 
could not be as capable of resistance or as likely to thrive as those 
hatched under natural conditions. 

In my opinion, the most effective form of pisciculture is that which 
encourages the natural reproduction of fishes, and artificial methods c.| 
hatching will, 1 think, never be more than makeshifts; inferior in their 
results to those favoured with the inexhaustible generosity of nature. 

A study of the foreign enactments that have resulted among our 
neighbours in a surplus supply so great as almost to suffice our market, 
shows that the most efficacious plan adopted by their governments lias 
been the passing of an Act empowering the State to collect, in the 
form of licences, taxes on nets, giving permits to fish as we in France 
have permits to shoot. 

It would obviously be good logic to borrow some of the laws of 
our neighbours, whose fisheries are in so satisfactory a condition. 
The chief element of their success has been the effective and strict 



FRANCE 135 

supervision that the pecuniary results of this licensing have made 
possible without the State having to pay for the numerous water 
bailiffs appointed for the purpose. The question arises whether so 
simple and effective an organisation is applicable to France. I fancy 
that it is, and the partition into districts, as in Switzerland and 
England, looked after by special inspectors, would assuredly be a 
step in the direction of the ever - increasing prosperity of these 
countries. 

Many agents are commissioned in France, but the only special 
agents are the fishery keepers. Their number, for the whole of 
France, is limited to 333, so that these 333 have to look after some- 
thing like 4,000,000 kilometres. 

It will thus be seen that supervision is practically impossible, 
although the forest rangers paid by the State have of late had their 
duties increased by the business of repressing offences 
against the fishery laws. , This lack of proper sur- 
veillance, pointed out by all officials who have charge 
of the fisheries, is no less debatable than the vast importation of 
foreign fish, supplying more than three-quarters of our markets, in spite 
of the cost of carriage. Would the introduction of fishing permits 
in France be an unpopular measure ? These facts prove the contrary. 
Many petitions have been framed with this object, and societies 
numbering thousands of adherents have been formed. All the tacts 
point to the disappearance of fish from our rivers. A large associa- 
tion has been formed at Paris. All who know point out that the fish 
are dwindling so rapidly that, unless some precautions are taken, 
angling, that sport that so delights Parisians and gives pleasure to 



136 SPORT IN EUROPE 

upwards of fifty thousand of them on Sundays, will in a few years 
survive only as a memory, and that result will be owing to the 
behaviour of a few only who, disregarding the law, the morrow, 
and their own interests, take everything, and more often than not 
kill the little they leave. Petitions are continually being handed in 
to the authorities. These agree in spirit. In various manner tin \ 
show that the fishery law, dated 1829, is more and more inadequate, 
so that the introduction of fishing permits would have the approval ol 
all but the poachers. 

Our streams and rivers are almost wholly depleted, the result of 
the defective state of our legislation and the obvious lack ol sufficient 
means of supervision. Compared with that of France, the production 
of neighbouring countries is so prosperous that it provides not only 
sufficient food for their own people, but also, as 1 have mentioned, 
a surplus for our markets. By revising our laws and adopting the 
legal modifications that have shown such good results in England, 
Switzerland, and Germany, we could restore the natural wealth ol 
our French rivers at any rate to their level, if not indeed above it. 
By furnishing means for the enforcing of a new law we could establish 
regular officials, and it would hardly be fair to come on the Treasury 
for the expense. The only way to ensure this cheap and wholesome 
food for the nation, while at the same time keeping in the country the 
many millions of francs that we pay away to foreign fisheries, is to 
establish a fixed, proportionate right for each mode of fishing ; in other 
words, fishery permits. 

I have sketched the present state of angling in France without 
any intention of giving the situation any appearance of being hope- 



FRANCE 



J 37 



less. It would be quite easy to remedy the evil, and the proof of this 
is furnished every day by those riparian proprietors who have, with 
the aid of private bailiffs, simply protected their own rivers. I may 
perhaps be permitted to give a case in point. 




A POOL ON THE ELLEE 



About the year 1878 I was coasting along Brittany in my yacht 

Hagarene, the small tonnage of which enabled me to enter the tiniest' 

harbours of that wonderful country. Chance brought 

me one day to the mouth of the river Ouimperle, close Kivers 

Scorff and 
to a fishing hamlet called Pouldu. Sailing up the river, Eng e 

1 noticed great nets drying in the wind, and I soon 
learnt that plenty of salmon were caught in this river. This state- 
ment was easily verified, for at the flood tide I saw the salmon leaping. 



138 SPORT IN EUROPE 

and was even able to catch one or two by simply trailing a spoon bait, 
of course not before I had tried them with the fly. The beaut) of tin- 
country round encouraged me to ascend as far as Quimperle\ the home 

of an old friend of my childhood. His lawyer happened to be with 
him when I reached the house, and, hearing my enthusiasm about the 
beauty of his district, he told me that the owner of a large estate in 
the neighbourhood had authorised him to let it, and he asked if 
I would go and look at it. There, he said, I should be within easy 
reach of two fine rivers, the Scorff and the Ellie, formerly full of fish, 
though nowadays the salmon were almost all taken in the nets at their 
mouth, the rest being intercepted by the millers in the mill sluices. 
My friend well knew my love of lonely sports, and, anxious that 
I should take a property that would bring us together as neighbours 
for some weeks every year, proposed that we should go then and 
there and see the manor of Kervegan. 

An hour later we reached it, by way of a wonderful avenue ol 
four rows of beeches a hundred years old. and found the manor 
buried in trees. It had the reputation of being haunted. The woods 
contained, at the season of migration, great abundance of woodcock, 
and the house, perched on a hill, was but half an hour's drive from 
the Scorff and Ellee, which run parallel into the sea at 1. orient and 
Pouldu. My inspection of these two rivers, the information I got 
of the ease of acquiring the local fishing rights, anil my friend's 
promise of co-operation, were all satisfactory, and that very day 
I became the tenant of Kervegan and its lands. 

I at once got to work, anil that autumn I dealt with a considerable 
stretch on either river. I hired bailiffs, and that first season 1 was 



FRANCE 139 

able to watch over and protect such salmon as escaped the net fisher- 
men and millers lower down and came up the Scorff and Ellee to 
spawn. I made many journeys to Paris, and got from the Conseil- 
General of Finisterre a special enactment, similar to that which 
governs English rivers. The results were marvellous. Ten years 
later I caught on the rod one hundred and thirteen salmon, thirteen of 
them in one day. The Ellee and Scorff had become as good as 
any rivers of Scotland or Ireland, and I can only compare them 
with the Irish Blackwater and Mallow. Trout had become equally 
plentiful, and the result had been obtained by merely protecting 
the waters against poachers and respecting nature's arrangements for 
the breeding of the fish, without any other attempt at restocking. 
I tried at the same time, during those ten years, to introduce new- 
kinds, and the Director of the Trocadero Aquarium in Paris turned 
out some hundreds of Californian salmon in the waters of the Ellee. 
Not one of them was evpr recaptured. They simply vanished, and 
I was content for the future with local species. 

So that Brittany could, with a similar system of protection, 
acquire, or rather recover, very great wealth of fish. The same 
applies to its game, so plentiful in former days and now so scarce. 
My renting of the rivers compelling me to take over as well the lands 
and woods adjoining, I was able to affirm that partridges, hares, and 
rabbits reappeared in a few years in considerable numbers, notwith- 
standing the great quantity of foxes, polecats, weasels, and every 
conceivable bird of prey. 

The yield of my fisheries soon became common knowledge, and 
very high prices were offered the owners who had let the rights to us. 



i 4 o SPORT IN EUROPE 

It may safely be said that if the sentiment of gratitude is rare among 

human beings in general, it is practically unknown among Bretons, 

and I was forced to accept the raising of the rents in order to keep 

my rivers. Nevertheless, I owed to this the acquaintance of a 

well-known sportsman, Mr. A. Petit, now one of my most intimate 

friends, and the author of the most complete work on trout-fishing 

that it was ever my fortune to read. 

Although the rivers are almost emptied of their fish, the sport has, 

during the last ten years, made considerable progress among the 

upper classes of French society, and fly-fishing for trout as will as 

salmon is now in great esteem. But there is a lack of suitable spots 

for waging war on the fish, and the few rivers that still retain some 

pretensions to excellence are let every daw Fishing clubs an- formed, 

and all that the State neglects, to its own loss, to do for tin waters 

that belong to it private enterprise will gradually accomplish on 

waters unsuitable for rafts or boats of any kind.' Such waters are 

in France the property of riparian owners, whereas the 

Result of larger navigable rivers belong to the State, which sells 

too much 

Liberty these rights by auction, reserving for all, Frenchmen 

and foreigners alike, the right of fishing with a rod 

without payment of any kind. This liberty has results often 

disastrous to the holders of fishing rights sold by the State, anil 

* Any person may fish with roil and line only in any public water, that is. in all navigable 
rivers, canals, and their ruts and affluents, the maintenance of which in good condition is 
chargeable to the State, and into which a fishing-boat can at all times enter. No one. however, 
must use night lines, trimmers, bank-runners, or any instrument stuck in the hanks I Ins ilncs 
not apply to ponds or lakes, which belong to the riparian proprietors. In all other rivers ami 
streams the right of fishing belongs to the riparian proprietor. 



FRANCE 



141 




A POOL ON THE ELLEE 



two years ago at Chatellerault the holder by auction of these rights 
in the Vienne saw, to his disgust and loss, numbers of anglers 
catching quantities of splendid salmon without payment of any 
kind. It is probable that the new century may find the French 



1 42 SPORT IN EUROPE 

Government with a better understanding fur the- common good of 
those rights that it ought to watch over, and that the restocking 

of the rivers of France will soon be accomplished when we at 
last adopt a new legislation. 

It is no easy matter to give visitors any information of good 
trout streams like those so easily obtained in other European 

countries. The interior of Brittany alone might offer 

Fishing for , r e c . . „ , 

_ . . some chances of success, bea-nshm'>" is excellent along 

Tourists. ° & 

the coast, and the best headquarters for anglers would 
be Ouimperle, Pont Scorff, and Pont Aven. It is possible to get a 
little sport in Normandy, but such rivers as still hold many fish are 
rented and preserved. 

In nearly every river in France there are pike, perch, chub, roach, 
dace, gudgeon, and, in the rivers of the south-east, grayling, as well 
as trout. 

The flies used for salmon in French waters are of much darker 
hue than those used in England and Norway, and are more like 
those made in Ireland and appreciated on the Blackwater. Our 
trout flies are very like those used in England. 

This must conclude my remarks on angling in France, as sad, 
I fear, as those I had to make on the subject of our shooting. I have 

given some indication of the causes of this depletion 

A Painful c . . , 1,1 1 

„ . . of land and water, as well as the very simple means 

Conclusion. 

of combating it. It is not in France that foreigners 
will find the opportunity for much shooting. It is well known that 
a prefet in the south once authorised the shooting of swallows for 
want ol game! These same sportsmen of the south are also said, 



FRANCE 143 

at the close of a long day, in which they had not got a single shot, 
to have thrown their caps in the air and made targets of them. 

Painful as it is to me to say this, there is no doubt that the 
most convincing proof of the detestable administration of our game 
laws is found in the spectacle of Alsace, which, almost depleted 
before our trouble of 1870, is once again full of game now that 
the province is under the German Government and subjected to a 
rational legislation. 

The intervention of members of either House in all legal matters 
submitted to the courts, in favour of the offenders, is one of the chief 
causes of the mischief. Gendarmes and gamekeepers have orders 
to wink at offences and not to apprehend the poachers, and there 
is no denying that the element of landed proprietors is altogether 
inadequately represented in our legislative assemblies. The majority 
of both Houses absolutely ignore these general interests, and watch, 
without any thought of Remedying the evil, our millions going out 
of the country, whereas they might easily be kept in France to 
produce game and fish. 

They never stop to think that, for all their passionate devotion 
to the poor, that very class could enjoy, at a low cost, a wholesome 
article of food if only the legislators would not throw all their in- 
fluence on the side of the poachers and other destroyers of game 
and fish so essential to their own re-election. They are less advanced 
than even the Chinese, for, if they would glance at the far East, 
they might see the culture of fish in China at the highest level of 
development, feeding millions of individuals. These vita] questions, 
that should be thought of above all others, are entirely overlooked 



H4 SPORT IN EUROPE 

by our politicians, rejected whenever they crop up, because they 
labour under the delusion that fishing and shooting have an aristo- 
cratic flavour little in keeping with the laws of equality, and because 
they cannot see that, from the poorest to the- most wealthy, in country 
and town alike, the vast majority of the population loves sport, 
following it tor recreation or to supply its needs. 



GERMANY 







BftCLavo e, v v »! 



faf >« 



GERMANY 

By BARON DONALD SCHONBERG 

I" N his sport the average German does not belie his Teutonic 
-*- origin and his close relationship to his English brother. Sport 
with him is not for show or for the pot, as with some Oriental and 
other races. Like the Englishman, he is refined in his pleasure, 
not cruel to animals, a thorough sportsman, who loves his sport for 
its own sake. 

The average German goes shooting for neither show nor the pot. 
He does not observe the latest fashion in knickerbocker breeches 
and gaiters, nor is his gun of the most costly. On the other hand, 
though less enterprising than his fellow -sportsmen in England in 
the matter of either record bags at home or the pursuit of trophies 
to the uttermost ends of the earth, he knows his business as a rule, 
takes a keen interest in matters of natural history, and is, as often as 
not, a lair rifle-shot. German keepers, too, who fulfil also the functions 
oi lorest guards, are as a rule a first-rate set of men, and in Prussia, 
at any rate, they get a good part of their education in the picked 
battalions of the riflemen, and then finish off at a forest school or 
academy. 

Poaching is common, but severely dealt with by the law. In the 

■47 



i 4 8 SPORT IN EUROPE 

lowlands it consists of the more harmless form of netting or snaring 

but in Bavaria, Silesia. Posen, and Prussia, where big 
Poaching. 

game is preserved, shooting at sight is the practice and 

often a necessity. Thirty years ago, when it was the custom to 
punish a keeper for manslaughter, if he could not prove that he- 
had been fired at first, deaths were frequent. Of late years the 
keeper generally gets off free, if his adversary is hit in front and 
is known to be a poacher; hence matters have improved greatly. 
The Deutsche Jagdschittzi'crein (Association of Game Preservers) has 
also of late done a great deal towards keeping down poaching by 
giving pensions to widows of keepers killed on duty, premiums in 
money, and, more valuable still, handsome presents to such as behaved 
with coolness and braverv. 

The most dangerous part in this respect is on the frontier between 
Bavaria and Tyrol, where the well-preserved chamois and stag shoots 
of Bavaria were for centuries the aim of the daring Tyrolese border 

inhabitants. In all well-managed shoots vermin, in- 
Vermin. 

eluding foxes, stray cats and dogs, badgers, stoats, birds 

of prey, and crows, are trapped and shot on a large scale, substantial 

premiums being paid to the keepers, and it is only in this way possible 

to get the customary large bags of hares and pheasants. 

For the benefit of English readers it may be said that there is no 

territory in Germany where free shooting is to be had. and that all 

land is preserved, though of course not all to the same 

Preservation ,,.. ,,-,,<- , , 

. _, extent. 1 he law ol all German states vests the snoot- 

and Rents. 

ing rights in the property of the soil without any sub 
division by ground game acts and the like, but as farms are nearly all 



GERMANY 149 

freehold and small properties predominate, areas under 200 to 300 acres 
in extent are thrown into one lot. These are strictly preserved and 
let by public auction for periods of six years or more, the lessee being 
responsible for damages to crops. Such rented shootings generally 
remain in the same hands for long periods and are rarely sub-let. 
For a large landed proprietor to let the shooting on his own ground 
at all is a very rare occurrence. An Englishman wanting to shoot 
or hunt in Germany will, provided he has some kind of introduction, 
be treated with the greatest hospitality and be made welcome in 
all parts. But, easy as he will find it to get invited as a guest 
or paying member, it will be difficult for him to rent a good shoot. 
Long leases are the rule, and these are rarely to be got without 
being well known for years and having a good deal of local influence. 
Club shoots are rare and generally not the best. 

A shooting licence, available only for the state where it is taken, is 
necessary everywhere. Prices' vary from 12s. to 20s. per annum. 
Before treating on the animals proper, two very ancient customs may 
be mentioned here. The "strecke," or game parade, is carried out 
with big game as well as small game. At the end of a day's shoot the 
game is collected, and laid out carefully in due order of merit, and then 
the master and his guests examine it, generally just before or after 
dinner. Often after dark, when the castle yard or the country house 
lawn is lit up by torches, and the keepers sounding the halali on their 
bugles, it is a pretty sight, and a sporting conclusion to a day's good 
sport. 

When big game is shot with the rifle or hunted with hounds, the 
keeper or the master breaks a twig, touches with it the bullet wound. 



i 5 o SPORT IN EUROPE 

and presents it to the successful hunter on the top of his doffed hat, in 
olden days in a kneeling attitude, with a " waidmannsheil " (luck t<> 
the hunter). The twig may be worn that day only. 

Modern weapons and modern cultivation of forest and field have 
doomed a goodly array of noble animals in Central Europe. 

Ceii'iis Megaceros passed away when written history began ; the 

ibex has here been extinct for more than a century. The grand 

elk still exists in a wild state in the forest of I ben- 
German , . , . r „ _, . 
„ horst, in the province 01 hast Prussia, but can no 

longer be shot by ordinary sportsmen, the killing ol 
surplus stags being reserved for royalty and its guests. The wolves 
left in Alsace-Lorraine are rapidly being exterminated, while the total 
extinction of the vulture eagle [Gypactos barbatus) or Lammergeier 
was of great benefit to all mountain game, and also to sheep-farmers. 
Other eagles, of course, cross the continent, and are occasionally shot 
in most parts of Germany. 

The golden eagle still breeds occasionally in the Alpine parts 
of P>avaria, but, being not only an arrant poacher, but also considered 
the noblest game of all by the mountaineers, whose greatest pride 

it is to stick into their hats as a trophy the white. 
_ . downy tail feathers, its depredations have been nearly 

stopped for good. The late Count Max Arco Zinneberg, 
the great hunter and founder of the famous collection of antlers in 
Munich, now belonging to his grandson, and the head keeper of 
the Bavarian Regent, Leo Dorn, at Hindelrang, both men of un- 
common skill and power of endurance, devoted a great part ol their 
lives to the pursuit of the golden eagle, and shot forty to fifty each. 



GERMANY 151 

A stranger would probably not succeed in getting one, even if he 

devoted years to it. 

The first place among game is from time immemorial held by 

the red deer. His agility and strength, his beauty of form, his 

powers of sight, scent, and hearing, stamp him as the noblest game. 

Royalty, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, 

Red Deer. 
nearly succeeded in acquiring the sole right of chase 

of the deer. This was contrary to the old customs and laws, which 
gave every free man the right to the chase on his own property ; 
but the crown officials and lawyers invented a subdivision for the 
purpose, viz., the "high and the low" chase. The latter was the 
right of the nobleman and landowner, the former the prerogative 
of the crown. This restriction lasted until the French Revolution. 
Enormous bags were consequently made by princes : thus John 
George II. of Saxony (1656- 1680), for instance, shot 43,649 head 
of red deer in twenty-foUr years; his father 35,421, among the 
number a stag of 61 st. 1 1 lbs. 

Stag hunting and shooting was made a noble art by these royal 
sportsmen ; and the minutest details were attended to with a punc- 
tiliousness quite incomprehensible to our modern notions. Of the 
voluminous literature on venery, by far the largest portion 
relates to red deer. In those times, killing a stag was a greater 
offence than killing a man. The deer found shelter in undulating 
lowland forests, and fed on the crops with impunity, until their 
increasing size and weight surpassed the best Hungarian stags 
and even the largest wapiti of to-day. The 24 -pointer in 
Moritzburg Castle, near Dresden, spans 6 ft. 3. 1 , in., and weighs 



152 SPORT IN EUROPE 

now 41^ lbs., and a stag in the same collection, shot near Leipsic 
in 1629, has horns of 38 lbs., 40 in. straight length, and 59 in. span, 
with 24 points: a stag of 66 points which was killed near Brandenburg 
1696, weighed 13 lbs., with a span of 40 in., and a length of 31 in. 
Even in this century a Count Buenau, of Dahlen, shot a stag with 
antlers weighing 2$l lbs. avd., and 45 in. straight length, and 40.I in. 
span. 




HERMAN RED DEER 



In modern times, and under the same influences as in Scotland 
{i.e. overstocking, insufficiency of winter find, the shooting of the 
best stags before the rut, increase in the number of hinds, etc.), 
German deer were losing form and quality. They were saved this 
ignoble fate about fifteen years ago by the exertions of a lew scientists 
and sportsmen, Professor Xeumeister, of Tharandt Forest Academy. 
Forest-Director Hohlfeld, who, albeit a Bohemian, had his best dis- 
ciples in Germany, ami a few others. Food to promote the growth 
of antlers is now attracting gnat attention. The object was attained 
by keeping the largest males for breeding, killing them only when 
they had done their duty towards posterity, and by killing the surplus 



GERMANY 



i53 



of females and all weak animals, as well as by regular winter feeding, 
especially in the time before and after shedding the antlers, with 
horn-producing food, such as oats, beans, horse-chestnuts, good hay, 
young branches of oak cut in May and dried in sheds till winter, and 
phosphate of lime mixed with salt. Heavy deer were also imported 
from Hungary or Russia, in a few instances even by a number of 
small shooting lessees clubbing together for expenses and agreeing 
not to kill the imported beasts. 

Nowadays antlers from 1 2 to 18 lbs. can be got in nearly all 
the larger shoots. The following table contains a few horn measure- 
ments of wild stags obtained in recent years : — 



IN INCHES. 



YEAR. 
I887. 
I89O. 
I895. 

I896. 



I897. 
I89S. 



King of Saxony . 
German Emperor 

King of Saxony . 

Baron Buddenbrock 
King of Saxony . 
German Emperor 



13 
•3 
17 
011.3 
' 19 
13 
18 
10 
IS 
44 



WEIGHT. 
LBS. AVD. 

.. m 

.. 16 
.. 19 

• 19h 
II 

.. 16 

•• 15 
.. 19 



STRAIGHT 
LENGTH. 



CIRCUMFERENCE 
SPAN. IN MIDDLE. 



. . . 4-Oi . . 


. 4 ii •■ 


... 43 


. 48^ . 


... 401 .. 


42i 


... 40J .. 


• 42j • 


... 44 


■ 39* • 


... 45 


■ 44 


... 34 .. 


■ 31 ■ 


... 42 


• 43 • 


... 29 


• 45 ■ 



61- 



With the exception of the purely agricultural plains of Central 
Germany, and those bordering on the North Sea, stags are to be 
found in all larger wooded tracts. They are rather more plentiful 
towards the east, and less so in the west, lighter and smaller in 
Bavaria, and heavier in the province of East Prussia. 



154 SPORT IN EUROPE 

The allotted space forbids me to enter into the details regarding 
mediaeval methods of stalking and driving, where transportable 
fencing was used. This was made of canvas sheets hung <>n ropes 
and poles, and the deer were killed from a pavilion, with ladies as 
spectators, the animals being driven down artificial runs provided with 
hurdles and deep dykes, not unlike a modern racecourse. In those 
times perfectly - trained bloodhounds, of a breed still existing in 
Hanover, were used to find the big stags and separate them from the 
hinds and young. Hundreds of beaters worked for days and weeks to 
get the doomed animals together. On a small scale this driving, 
called Holies Jagen, or Eingestelltes jfagen, is still pursued by a tew 
great nobles, and by the Emperor when foreign guests of distinction 
are present. 

Nowadays the best sportsmen stalk on foot or from a shooting- 
cart in the rutting time; this gives the best sport and also the best 
chance to pick out good heads in dense woods. 

The music of the roaring monarch of the glen among fine forest 
scenery is a thing not soon to be forgotten. For a true hunter it is 
perhaps the greatest delight of all to listen to the calling of a dozen 
or more harts from a commanding woodland ridge in the grey dawn 
of morning, and choose his quarry from among their number. 

In small shoots, which are deserted in rutting time, or where the 
keeping down of expenses is an object, stags are generally shot in 
August, when they are in prime condition. Pot-hunters ami cockneys 
often sit up at night in a dug-out or hole near fields visited 1>\ stags, 
and kill their game with buckshot, a most unsportsmanlike proceeding 
of course. 



NY*. 



GERMANY 155 

In thickly-wooded parts, or on smaller grounds, or when superfluous 
hinds are to be killed off, driving" is resorted to. This is generally 
done in November, December, and January, the guns usually being 
posted in the rear of the drivers. Drivers often move backwards and 
forwards three or four times to get out the wily old fellows, who 
occasionally tilt a driver head over heels rather than face the rifles 
in the rear. 

The usual weapon is a Mannlicher or Mauser repeater or double 
'450 rifle or cape combination of rifle and gun, oftener still a double 
gun with a - 440-bore rifle-barrel underneath. This combination is 
a useful weapon, and might be called the national all-round arm. 

The close time for the stag is from February to June ; . for the 
hind, February to October. 

Fallow deer are abundant in the plains of northern Germany and 

Holstein, and are kept in parks all over the country. They are not 

thought much of, their principal advantage being the 

V •! . Fallow Deer. 

easiness with which they take to captivity in parks, not 

getting dangerous like red deer, or deteriorating like roe. The manner 

of hunting them is about the same as with red deer. Their number 

cannot well be estimated ; in the Prussian royal forests of Letzlingen 

and Shorfhaide there are about 7,000 head. A heavy stag will weigh 

155 lbs., and his horns 8|- lbs. 

The handsome and nimble roe is a great pet of most German 

sportsmen. It is to be found from the Alps to the Atlantic, and 

is fairly plentiful everywhere. It lives close to timber- 
.. . . Roedeer. 

line, in mountain forests and in cultivated plains, pro- 
vided there are a few bushes here and there for shelter. In some 



156 SPORT IN EUROPE 

parts roedeer are shot, as in England, like hares and rabbits, in shot- 
gun drives, often, even in winter, after the horns have been shed and 
both sexes look alike. But to the honour of Germans be it said 
that unsportsmanlike proceedings are the exception, and that all true 
hunters agree with what Mr. |. G. Millais says about it in his 
excellent book on British Deer and their Horns. In many places it 
is the only rifle-shooting to be had, and is therefore all the more 
valuable. 

Nobody that has not practised it himself can conceive what good 
sport can be got out of the chase of this little deer. He who thinks 
that stalking the roebuck is easy sport little knows the astuteness 
of an old buck. His powers of scent and hearing are equal to those 
of the red deer, his sight is nearly so, and in knowledge of human 
behaviour and life-saving tricks he beats any animal. His fatal fault 
is his curiosity, and thus he gives occasionally the long-coveted 
opportunity for putting a bullet through him. 

In Germany roe are not quite as plentiful as in I lungary. where the 
late Crown Prince Rudolf stalked and shot eighteen in one morning 
at Keszthely, but in most good grounds six or eight can be got in 
a morning. The largest numbers are to be found in the black Forest 
(on the estate of Prince Fiirstenberg), in the oak forests mar Leipsic, 
in the northern part of Silesia (at Primkenau, the estate of the Duke 
Ernest Guenther of Holstein). and in Mecklenburg. The heaviest 
are got in East Prussia. 

The average weight is 45 lbs. ; greatest weight of an East Prussian 
buck, shot by the Emperor on Count Dohna Schlobitten's estate of 
Proekelwitz (where the average yearly bag is seventy head). 71 lbs. 



-■>•, 



GERMANY 157 

clean. Average length of horns 8 in., maximum length 12-i in., which 
was that of the above-mentioned buck. 

Stalking" is generally done in the early morning or before nightfall, 
when the deer are feeding on grass land or low-growing crops. In 
high corn they are safe of course, and take advantage of it accord- 
ingly. In the rut, in the last days of July and beginning of August, 
the buck can be called by imitating the chirping love-note of the 
enamoured doe. If he is in hearing, and the sound is imitated well, 
the buck will come at a quick pace without making the usual circuit 
to take the scent, as stags often do. 

In large shoots, or where they are much harassed, it is often 
of advantage to use a cart or low stalking carriage, and jump down 
when at a walking pace under cover of the vehicle, or a tree or 
bush. 

Winter feeding, with hay, turnips, oats, chestnuts, is resorted 
to in all good shoots. Close time for the buck March and April ; 
for the doe the ten months'- from December to September. 

The chamois and its chase will have been treated by an abler pen 

in the Austrian chapter of this volume, for Austria is its 

Chamois. 
real home. Suffice it here to say that it is also fairly 

common in the Alpine parts of Bavaria. 

All along the Tyrolese frontier, from Reichenhall to the lake of 

Constance, and in contrast to Tyrol, where the game is constantly 

shot and harassed by the owners of peasant shooting, the north 

slope of the Alpine range is a series of well-kept and carefully guarded 

preserves, the principal inhabitants of which are chamois and red 

deer. The Bavarian Prince Regent, an inveterate sportsman, the 



158 SPORT IN EUROPE 

celebrated oculist, Duke Charles Theodor of Bavaria, the Barons 
Karr Bebenburg and Gamer Klett. Prince Taxis, the Grand Duke 
of Nassau and Luxemburg, Count Quadt, the Allgaeu Club (president. 
Count Geldern), Prince Fugger, Duke Louis ol Bavaria, and the 
Department of Woods and Forests, have all the best ground, partly 
also in lease from Tyrolese communities. A few peasant shoals 
have chamois sometimes, but are very inferior, and nothing good 
is to be got for love or money. The highest peaks in this region 
are about 8,500 feet, the average rather above 6,000 feet. 

As to size and weight, 1 1 in. length of horn and So lbs. of body 
weight is about the maximum. The total number in the German Alps 
might be estimated at 5,000 to 6,000 ; the number killed there in a 
year at 600 to 800. 

Driving is the usual manner, the guns being posted in passes 
or game paths. Stalking is resorted to also, and a sort of com- 
bination of both called riegeln. 

The best numerical results are obtained by large drives, but these 
do not afford as good sport, and the same ground can be only 
touched once a year, or, better still, once in two years. To arrange 
a successful drive is a matter requiring great experience and skill. 

The beaters often leave the day before and cam]) out, or at 
best, lantern in hand, begin their climbing in the darkness of 
night. Considering the men must go alone and keep line and 
time, driving in difficult ground is much more dangerous even 
than most Alpine climbing done by experienced tourists. 

Stalking, especially when practised tor Bartgams in the rut, is 
more interesting, but requires good powers of walking and climbing, 



-0! 



GERMANY 159 

and moreover this method has a tendency to send the game to the 
next shoot, for the chamois likes undisturbed peace more dearly even 
than most game. Given this peace, chamois multiply fairly fast. They 
are very hardy, and have no enemies among four-footed animals. 
The prevention of poaching is hard and dangerous work for the 
keepers, and many a brave fellow has sacrificed his life for a bunch 
of the prized "beard" off a good buck's back. 

This is no wonder if one bears in mind that a woodcutter will pay 
one to two months' wao-es for a oood beard, and value it less than the 
one he got for himself as a young daredevil perhaps a few years ago. 
Prices up to £y are said to have been asked for one, and paid too by 
labouring men. The usual weapon is a '315 repeater or double rifle. 

Boar are the great enemies of all crops, and preserving them 

clashes with the interests of an agricultural population. They are 

killed down everywhere, except in lame forest tracts like 

Wild Boar. 
the Spessart, which still contains about 600 head and 

where the damage they do iSipf less consequence. In Brandenburg, 
Westphalia, the Rhine Provinces, and Alsace-Lorraine they are still 
found in a wild state, but not in great numbers, and are only preserved 
where it is possible to do so without too great expense. Some 
are kept in large parks, as by the Emperor at Springe, by the King of 
Saxony at Moritzburg, and by Prince Stolberg at Wernigerode. Pig- 
sticking is an unknown art. Piggy is generally driven with dogs, 
a plan that gives good sport, or without dogs in winter, when the 
spoor can be taken in the snow. The wild boar is not protected by a 
close time. The best weapons are a double rifle, ball-gun, or cape-gun, 
with buckshot in the left barrel. 



160 SPORT IN EUROPE 

Contrary to English custom, foxes arc hunted as vermin by all 

keepers. They are trapped, hunted in their dens with a dachshund, 

or dug out whenever and wherever they can he got In 
Fox. 

Mecklenburg it used to be the fashion to keep foxes for 

shooting, sixty to eighty foxes being bagged in one day's driving. The 

fashion is, however, going out now, for the Mccklcnburgcrs have 

found out that it takes about seventy hares per annum to (uvd a fox, 

and that the real reason of the abundance of foxes is to Ik- sought in 

the fact that the country's condition is a most favourable one for hares. 

The hare is the most common game in Germany. His numbers 

increase with culture and fertility, provided he is protected against 

foxes, poachers, and birds of prev. He can shift tor 
Hare. 

himself pretty well in the way of food, so winter feeding 

is not necessary. If practised, refuse turnips, turnip cuttings, or 

cabbage leaves are used. Warm, loamy soil is preferred by the hare 

such as is best for turnips, and the best shoots, therefore, are to 

be found in the sugar-producing districts of Central Germany near 

Halle, Merseburg, and Magdeburg, and, in Silesia, near Breslau. 

Numbers vary from fifty to seventy head per diem for twenty guns, to 
i, 800 or 2,000 head for ten or twelve guns. The best day's bag of 
one gun was that of 832 made by the Emperor in 1893 at Neugatters- 
leben (Baron W. Alvensleben), in the Prussian province of Saxony, near 
Magdeburg. A year previous the Emperor made the next best record 
in the neighbourhood at Barby (Herr von Dietze) with 700. 

The ordinary plan of driving is to surround a square with ;i mixed 
line, from two to five beaters between each gun, each man slowly 
walking towards the centre, the whole forming a gradually narrowing 



GERMANY 161 

ring. In large shoots an oblong rectangle is formed, one narrow side 
open or closed by some natural obstacle. The two longer sides consist 
of beaters and the opposite narrow side of guns. The whole slowly 
moves forward towards the end, which is soon closed by the wings of 
beaters. The sportsmen shoot while slowly walking, generally accom- 
panied by a loader, a few boys to retrieve, and two men to carry 
the game. Stationary drives, like English grouse-drives, are not 
much resorted to in the open, but are a necessity, of course, in 
woodland. This forest-driving gives a good deal of sport ; game 
is not so plentiful, but it is more careful and cunning and difficult to 
shoot, darting about in the bushes and across narrow paths. In well- 
conducted shoots the shooting of other game is generally prohibited 
for the day, and the scene is varied by the appearance of roe, 
stags, and even boar. 

Rabbits are met with in most places, but they are not protected 

or bred, for they are not^ considered good eating. 

\ < Rabbit. 

Ferrets are often used to thin them down. 

Partridges are found nearly everywhere, their distribution following 

about the same rules as that of the hare. They are shot, in August 

and September. On a few large properties (as those of 

Count Zschirschky Renard in Gross Strehlitz) driving Partridges 

and Sporting 
in the English way is not unknown, but the regular d o- Si 

German way is to walk them up with dogs, generally 

one dog to every gun, that acts as pointer and retriever alike. English 

pointers and retrievers were largely introduced thirty or forty years 

ago, but as the average German hunter is not, like his colleague 

in England, rich enough to keep a variety of dogs and men, and 

M 



i6a SPORT IN EUROPE 

as the grounds are as a rule less extensive, sportsmen tried to train 
them for both purposes, but had good results in rare cases only. 
French griffons and poodle pointers have answered better, but best of 
all is the old German heavy close-haired dog crossed with English 
pointer blood. The old dog was rather slow but very intelligent, and 
the cross improved his staying powers, endurance, and scent. A well- 
trained dog, such as is required by the German keeper and owner ol a 
small shooting, must point and retrieve alike. In summer he must act 
as bloodhound on the trail of wounded roe, retrieve ducks in the water, 
and act as a spaniel for woodcock and snipe. In September he must 
take no notice whatever of hares, while two months later he must 
hunt down all wounded hares and retrieve them without noticing 
partridges. This is no tall story ; quantities of dogs do it, and all 
well-trained ones should do it. The maximum bag of driven partridges 
is 500 or 600 at Gross Strehlitz ; maximum over dogs 280 to four guns 
at Kreisewitz (Count Pfeil), or 175 to one gun (Baron W. Alvensleben) 
at Barby. 

Woodcock and snipe are much valued by reason of their scarce- 
ness. They do not breed in the winter, and are shot during their 

migration lrom Turkey to Sweden and Russia in spring, 

Woodcock , , . ,11 

,_ . and on the return lournev 111 autumn. In the latter 

and Snipe. J ' 

season they are shot over dogs, in the former when 
on the wing. When cock and hen are seeking each other in the 
evening twilight with low deep notes of love, somewhat resembling 
the sound of a woodcutter's saw, (light shooting in open forest 
glades, or strips of meadow, or pasture surrounded by bushes, is a 
favourite pastime. The number of woodcock shot in Germany has 



GERMANY 



163 



fallen off greatly of late years, partly owing to the improved weapons 
used by Turkish, Greek, and Italian pot-hunters. 




A WARDEN OF THE ROYAL FOREST, WUR.TEMBERG 



The capercailzie, or "big cock," as he is called by 



Capercailzie. 



the mountaineers (the hens are very rarely shot), stands 

in high esteem, and is many a noble and royal sportsman's quest. 




Wl'l'DCOCK 




BLACK G VMI 






GERMANY 165 

brought the bird down during the following one. Some forest 

tracts are always preferred by the hens, and in these, if well stocked, 

cocks congregate up to fifteen or twenty at a time ; this of course 

greatly increases the difficulty of stalking. 

The "small cock," as the mountaineer calls the black grouse, 

can be found in most forested regions, as also in the Alps. In the 

mountains, where hard work is the essence of sport, the 

Blackcock. 
men prize him greatly, partly by reason of his being 

warier and more difficult to get than his larger cousin, and partly 

because of his fine lyre-shaped tail feathers, with which the hunters 

adorn their own hats as well as those of their sweethearts. The mating 

song is rather like the loud cooing of a wood-pigeon, accompanied 

by sundry violent hisses, and can be heard at a great distance ; 

but the bird's eyes and ears are first-rate, and he is constantly 

on the watch. They call and they fight mostly on the ground, 

generally in the open, the. \ hens looking on from some adjacent 

tree. In the plains sportsmen often use dug-outs in the ground 

covered with branches and loopholed, but as the hunter must hide 

himself in the dark and wait for some two hours, it is rather tedious. 

The grand sport is stalking with a rifle, but this requires creeping like 

a Red Indian, and shooting like a Queen's prizeman at Bisley. In 

the Alps the pursuit is still harder, as the bird takes high altitudes, 

which are often covered with deep snow at this season of the year. 

Mating and close time are the same with both birds. 

Wild fowl afford good sport on most continental lakes and ponds. 

Duck are shot in July, when the young are just able to rly ; 

they are quick on the wing and wary. Lanes are generally cut 



166 SPORT IN EUROPE 

through the rushes and reeds a few weeks beforehand, and driving 
n , done with boats and dogs, the guns being posted on 

Wild Geese, terra Jirma, or also in boats. Geese and swans .w<- 
and Swans. generally shot by flight-shooting ; but these birds .in- 
rare, and only to be found near the North Sea. Punting for wild 
fowl, or shore-shooting with heavy guns, is not practised as a sport, 
not even, as far as the writer's knowledge goes, by professionals. 

Pheasants are not indigenous, but are largely reared and kept 
exactly the same as in England. Hand-rearing, or breeding by 

Turkev hens, is the general practice. Silesia, with its 
Pheasants. 

large estates, is the hi Dorado ot pheasant shooting. 

The best wild shoot is Ruppersdorf in Silesia (Count Saurma); 

the best shoots with artificial rearing at Gross Strehlitz (Count 

Zschirschky Renard), Ober Glogau (Count Oppersdorff), and 

Kuchelnna (Prince Lichnovsky), where the Emperor shot [,125 in 

one day in 1895. 

These marine animals may be mentioned too among the quarry 

of German sportsmen who frequent the sea-coast. The seal is 

found on the whole North Sea coast ; their number is 

„ . estimated at from 200 to ^00, and those annually shot 

Porpoises. ° 

number about fifty. The hunter lies in wait on a sand- 
bank at ebb-tide and shoots them in the head with a rifle. Recovering 
their bodies is the greatest difficulty, if death is not instantaneous. The 
record bag was made by a Russian Prince, who retrieved the wounded 
himself by swimming, and got thirteen in five days. Porpoises are 
shot when hunting for food on the surface, from a sailing boat, a lar 
bore rifle being used. It is rather difficult work, as the animal swims 



GERMANY 167 

at a good pace, and jumps out of the water at regular intervals only. 
Good body shots are alone effective, for the wounded go off at great 
speed, and when the brain or spine is touched they sink immediately, 
only to reappear when inflated by decomposition. Retrieving is 
done by two men in a rowing boat. 



In bygone times hunting was as great a pastime as in England 

and France. It died out in the beginning of this century, to be 

revived in the English manner about forty years later. 

Hunting. 
In old days, princes and large landed magnates 

chased the stag with strong hounds, as may be seen in Ridinger's 
celebrated engravings, and country gentlemen (the writer's grand- 
father for instance up to 1830) coursed hares with greyhounds. But 
the general poverty following the devastations of the wars of the 
first Napoleon, the increase-^f corn and turnip growing in comparison 
to cattle breeding, and the abolition of the sporting privileges of the 
aristocracy, that rendered all sport most expensive, put a general stop 
to hunting in Germany. In the fifties, the increasing" prosperitv, and 
above all the important influence of hunting on horse breeding", and 
its value as a test for military rough riding, brought hunting" to the 
fore again, but then the old good breeds of dogs and the trained men 
were gone. Everything, even to the pink coats and huntsmen, had 
to be brought from England. Now, a good many packs are kept, 
but most are of a more or less military character. To understand 
this the reader must bear in mind that the climate and agriculture 
in Germany are most unfavourable for hunting. Pastureland is rare : 



168 SPORT IN EUROPE 

cornfields, potatoes, and turnips are not clear till September ; and in 
November severe frosts often put a stop to riding across country. The 
absence of pastureland, with its fences and ditches, diminishes the 
pleasure and increases the cost on the other hand, in consequence of 
the damage done to arable land. All hounds are of English breed, 
viz. foxhounds and harriers, but are bred in Germany ; huntsmen and 
hunt servants are mostly Germans too. Foxes are not always to be 
got, so recourse must be taken to trapped wild boars, fallow and red 
stags. The chase of the latter is de rigueur on St. Huberts Day 
(November 3). Most hunts are managed on club principles, only 
members and their guests having a right to follow the hounds. 

The Potsdam Grunewald pack consists of some fifty boar-hounds ; 
the kennels are at Klein Glienicke and are kept by the Emperor 
(as King of Prussia) ; and often 80 to 100 horsemen, cavalry officers 
predominating, put in an appearance. Boars only are hunted. The 
hunt was founded in 1852; the hounds came from Dessau and 
were of old German parentage. They are now crossed with English 
blood. Weather permitting, the hunt meets twice .1 week. 

The Hanover foxhounds, consisting of a pack of forty hounds, 
hunt mixed, generally trapped game. From 100 to 200 horsemen 
attend as a rule. The pack is kept by the German Military Riding 
Academy. The master is an officer ; the hunt servants non-com- 
missioned officers, who ride, contrary to the German military etiquette, 
in pink. The hounds are considered the fastest in the country. 
Another pack is kept at Munich and hunted chiefly by Bavarian 
officers. 

At Grossenhain, near Dresden, foxhounds are hunted in the same 



GERMANY 169 

way by a club consisting of Saxon cavalry officers and a few country 
gentlemen. 

Paderborn in Westphalia has a club on the same lines. Baron 
Fritz Friedlaender, a Berlin banker, keeps a private pack of foxhounds 
at Laucke. All the above-named packs hunt carted deer or boar, and' 
occasionally foxes. 

Foxes, either wild or trapped, or a drag, are hunted by clubs 
at Gumbinnan, Bromberg, Brandenburg and Lissa. The members are 
mostly cavalry officers. Hare coursing with beagles or harriers is 
practised by Count Borke at Stargard, Mr. Hewald at Randonatschen 
near Insterburg, and Baron Heyden at Luetzenow. These three 
masters keep their own packs. The Grand Duke of Mecklenburg 
and his two Dragoon regiments at Ludwigslust and Parchim keep 
packs, which are hunted by the military clubs at Brooke in Pomerania 
and Neubrandenburg. 

Riding to hounds is nots^ri Germany the national sport it is in 
England, and is therefore not open to everybody. As a rule club 
members and their guests are the only persons who ride to hounds. 
It need scarcely be said that any gentleman who can sit a horse, and 
an Englishman above all, is heartily welcomed everywhere, and will 
find hard riding and stiff jumping during the hunt and good-fellowship 
after it. 



GREECE 



ttf 



*ltf 



GREECE 

By J. GENNADIUS 

| T is not easy to give a connected or very clear account of sport 
-*- in Greece, since it is not practised in the systematic and methodi- 
cal way which obtains in this country pre-eminently, and also in 
Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and elsewhere. There is, in Greece, 
hardly any country life as understood in England ; but the townsman, 
who gives himself a day's outing, with a gun and the inevitable game- 
bag slung across his shoulders, goes shooting in the somewhat pro- 
miscuous manner of the French bourgeois who sets off a la chasse. 
Of angling, also, there is, hardly a trace, very few inland waters in 
Greece lending themselves to this form of fishing-. 

Yet sport had attained, among the ancient Greeks, to as high 
a degree of perfection as athletics and the other arts of peace and 
war : indeed, it may fairly be said that in their writings we discover 
the fountain-head and starting-point of the sporting literature of later 
times. I do not refer to the incidental, though vivid and vigorous, 
accounts of the chase to be met with in Homer and Hesiod ; but 
to the first special and complete treatises we possess on horsemanship 
and on hunting from the pen of Xenophon. So complete and so perfect 
of their kind are they, that William Blaine {Cynegetica, London, 1788) 
is surprised "to observe one of the finest writers, the bravest 

173 



174 SPORT IN EUROPE 

soldiers, the ablest politicians, the wisest philosophers, and the most 
virtuous citizens of antiquity, so intimately acquainted with .ill the 
niceties (of coursing, etc.), and describing them with a precision that 
would not disgrace the oldest sportsman of Great Britain, who never 
had any other idea interfere to perplex his researches." As a matter 
of fact, Xenophon, in the peaceful retirement of his country house, 
busying himself with his horses and his hounds, after having led the 
heroic march of The Ten Thousand, presents to us the very beau ideal 
of an English country gentleman. And as the true English sports- 
man firmly believes that fox-hunting and deer-stalking are the lust 
school for the British army, so Xenophon records his conviction that 
horsemanship and the chase train men to be good soldiers, 

So deep and lasting was the impression of Xenophon's Cynegeticus x 
by reason both of its intrinsic excellence and of its fascinating style, 
that his admirer and imitator — Arrian, surnamed Xenophon the 
Younger — essayed to bring it up to date by writing, some four and a 
half centuries later, a corollary and supplement to the treatise of the 
great Athenian. Two other Greeks, both, like Arrian. natives "\ 
Asia Minor, and both named Oppian, have left us two iambic poems, 
the one on "Hunting" (Cynegetica), the other on "Fishing" [Hali- 
eutica) ; and we also possess a prose paraphrase of a treatise on 
" Hawking" ('I^eirmu) by the former of the two. 

The fifth book of the Onomasticon of Julius Pollux, an Alexandrine 
grammarian of the second century of our era (about which lime the 
two Oppians also flourished), enumerates the technicalities of ancient 
venation. And to Athcnaus, that inestimable and inexhaustible 
chatterbox, we are indebted for the extant fragments >>\ Axchestratus's 



GREECE 175 

Gastronomia, which supplies most interesting information as to the 
fisheries of the Greeks. 

Plutarch gives incidentally valuable hints on hunting in his De 
Solentia Animalium, and so does ^Elian in De Natura Animalium. 
The Greek Geoponica are a like source of information, and other 
minor fragments on hunting and fishing will be found in the Appendix 
to Didot's edition (Paris, 1846) of the Greek Bucolic and Didactic 
poets. Finally, we owe to a Byzantine writer of the thirteenth 
century, Demetrius Pepagomenus, a remarkable treatise on the 
"Rearing of Dogs"* (Kwoa-6<f>iov), as well as two treatises on "Hawk- 
ing" and " Fowling" ('lepaKoo-ofaov and ^Opveouo^iov). 

This rapid summary of ancient Greek sporting literature is no 
idle antiquarian retrospect. It will be found an essential equipment 
towards a better understanding of the actual conditions of sport in 
modern Greece. 

Those who desire to obtain reliable knowledge of the nature of birds 



and fishes in Greece should further consult the works 
of three Frenchmen, Pierre Belon du Mans, J. Pitton 



Four useful 
Works of 
Tournefort, and Sonnini de Manoncourt.f who lived in Reference. 

times wide apart, but who, by this very fact, serve as 

* This treatise is included in the following curious English collection : Gratii Falisci 
Cynegeticon, cum poematio cognomine M. A. Olympii Nemesiani Carthagenensis ; notis etc., 
adorn. Thomas Johnson. Acced. Hier. Fracastorii Alcon, carmen pastoritium ; Jo. Caii Angli 
De Canibus libellus ; ut et opusculum vetus \s.vvoab<pi.ov diet, seu, de Cura Canum, incerto 
auctore." Londini, 1699. Small 8vo. 

t Les observations de plusieures singularitez et choses memorables trouvees en C.recc, 
Asie, Judife, Egypte, Arable, et autres pays estrangers. Redigees, en trois livres, par P. Belon 
du Mans: Paris, en la boutique de Gilles Cortozet, 1553, 111-4°. (This is the first of several 



176 SPORT IN EUROPE 

links in a long-drawn chain, and who, moreover, were all men <>l 

science. To these must be added the work of a keen sportsman,* 

who resided the best part of his life in Greece, Dr. Anton von 

Lindermayer, physician to the late Queen Amalia. This much in 

respect of the fauna. 

With regard to the country itself, account should lie kept ot the 

changes which have come over its physical condition. Successive 

ravages and the miserovernment of many centuries have 

Conditions wrought havoc with forests and vegetation; so that well- 
unfavourable 
to Sport wooded districts have been transformed into arid tracts, 

and, consequently, majestic rivers have been changed 
into violent torrents in winter and shallow streams in summer. The 
absence of large landed estates also renders the propagation of game 
almost hopeless, the small peasant farmers being content to kill what 
they need for their own immediate wants or for the supply of the 
town markets. Country life is only just beginning to be essayed 
timidly by the richer classes. But systematic atteni|rts at the preser- 
vation of game are almost unknown in Greece, t Indeed cases have 

editions. There is also an English translation.}— -Relation d'un voyage au Levant fait par 
ordre du Roi, par P. Tournefort : Paris, 1717. 2 vols. in-4 . — Voyage en Grece ct en Turquie, 
fait par ordre de Louis XVI., et avec I'autorisation de la Cour Ottomane, par C. S, Sonnini : 
Paris, 1S01. 2 vols., in-8°, et Atlas de planches in-4 ■ 

* Die Vogel Griechenlands. Ein Beitrag nir Fauna dieses Landes. i,Uritter Jahres- 
Berieht des naturhistorischen Vereins.) Passau, i860, 8vo. Cf. the chapter on "Omitholo 
Sketches from the East" in Notes on Sport <ui</ Ornithology, by 11. 1, and K.H. the late Crown 
Prince Rudolf of Austria ; translated by C. ('•. Danford. London, 1889. 8vo., pp. 503-538. 

t Something like an attempt at preserving game in Greece has been made at Mi. 
Apostolides' farm, on the northern shore of the bay of Alliums, not far from Volos. There 
are some excellent woodcock covers in blackthorn gullies, and a pond where duck, pintail, 
pochard and teal find food and shelter. In the neighbouring country of Thrace, Hobarl 



GREECE 177 

been recorded of peasants poisoning the birds in order to protect their 
crops. There are no game laws, and practically no close time is 
observed. Anyone may go out shooting, provided he pays a 
nominal fee for a gun licence, and even this formality is often 
neglected. 

In these conditions sport cannot flourish — it can hardly exist, even 
in a country so abundantly favoured by nature. The advantageous 
geographical position of the Greek peninsula and its exceptionally 
rich natural endowments, are the only reasons why, in spite of historic 
and social conditions militating against the development of its fauna, 
the country still offers a fair field for the three kinds of game which 
we shall now consider seriatim, i.e. Big Game, Small Game, and 
Migratory Game. 

I.— BIG GAME 

Until quite recently deer and wild pig were not scarce in Greece 

proper. Deer were frequently met with, especially in the spurs of 

Mount Olympus and the fastnesses of Othrys, prevalent 

Deer. 
being the very beautiful species known locally as 

platonion (the irXaTUKepw or evpvicepuK of the Ancients), which Belon 

says (i. 53 and 54) is the daim of the French. But it is now almost 

a thing of the past, only stray instances of its survival in the wild 

state being recorded, mostly in the woods of Arcadia, where, as 

also in Acarnania and northern Greece generally, the wild pig was 

equally plentiful. Indeed, Arcadia was the classic home of the 

Pasha, the English admiral in the service of the Sultan, laid out covers for pheasants 
in the natural thickets and undergrowth of thorn along the banks of the Ncsus, the neigh- 
bouring cornfields offering ample food to the birds. 

N 



178 SPORT IN EUROPE 

Erymanthean boar.* The peasant farmers, however, caring lor their 

crops rather than for sport, have, more effectually than Hercules 

himself, destroyed the beast. It has consequently become extremely 

wary ; the few surviving specimens venture out only by night, 

keeping at daytime among the rushes, where they feed. 

_. . The best pig-hunting region, within easy reach of the 

Epirus. ' " ■ • ' 

Greek borders, is now the country a little beyond the 
harbour of Panagia, on the coast of Epirus, opposite Corfu. The 
peasants, who there act as beaters, are provided with dogs fairly 
well trained to the work. Their co-operation is necessarv. tor the 
pigs are very hard to dislodge from among the long reeds. By moon- 
light, when the beasts are most likely to sally forth, lying in wait 
lor them may prove at times more successful. Red deer are also 
occasionally met with there. In these northern districts, .is will as 
in the gorges of Arcadia, wolves are by no means scarce ; and the) 
are always sure to lurk in the vicinity of sheepfolds. Foxes and 
jackals are of rare occurrence. 

Even more regrettable, in a certain sense, is the total extinction 
of a herd of some five or six hundred wild oxen, which roamed until 
quite recently in the trackless reed-beds around Lake Copais. They 
were gradually exterminated by peasants, who used to lie in ambush 
in the shallows of the lake, and who sold the carcasses of those noble 

* .Mount Erymanthus and its gorges were covered with thick forests and peopled with 
wild beasts of all sorts. It was therefore a favoured hunting-ground, primarily of Diana : 

' ' Ofij 5' 'Aprctiis iloi tar' oiywos to^cupa, 
"H Kara Trjvyerov T€fnfjLriKeToi', rt'Epvuav&ov, 
'I'epnofitvri ndirpotai Kal wKtiys i\d<pot(rt." 

Oii. vi. 10;. 



GREECE 



179 



beasts in the market-place of Levadia as " wild beef." The draining 
of the lake and the burning of the reeds saw the last of them. 
There is little doubt that these oxen were the descendants, not of 
primeval, untamed herds, but of cattle which were known to have 
strayed, during the disturbed times preceding the establishment of 
the kinodom, from some of the villages in Locris. 

Of similar origin is a herd of wild asses, to be met with only 
in one spot — the small uninhabited island of Macronisos (Long 
Island) opposite the bay of Laurium, in Attica. It is the practice 
of shepherds in Greece to land their flocks on such islands, where 
the grass, untouched during the early spring, offers rich pasturage 
in summer ; and a sheepfold in Greece is invariably accompanied 
by a couple of asses carrying the wherewithal of the nomadic 
shepherds. Some of these asses seem to have strayed to in- 
accessible parts of the island, and to have there propagated in a 
wild state. Bred in such^ circumstances, they have regained the 
extraordinary fleetness of Mieir primitive ancestors (an acquirement 
which now renders them hard to approach), they have developed 
a thick woolly coat, bushy whiskers, and a kind of long beard on 
the lower jaw. 

However, there still exists one kind of big game which has 

survived in its primitive state and in its original haunts 

Ibex. 
— the ibex, or cegagrus* of the ancients, which is 



* In the Greek vernacular it is known as agrimi, dyplfu, a contraction of the classic 
ay/)iij.aiop, a term signifying all kinds of wild animals, the object of chase, and hence, as 
employed by Athenreus (xii. p. 549 f.), their flesh used as food, i.e. venison. The flesh of the 
ibex is considered a delicacy by the Cretan mountaineers. 



i8o SPORT IN EUROPE 

repeatedly referred to in Homer as being hunted by Ulysses and 
his companions while roaming among the . Hgean islands. It is known 
as the pasang in Persia, its central home, whence it spread over the 
whole of Asia Minor and some parts of the . Kgcm on the one sitlr. 
and as far as Afghanistan on the other. It is still met with in con- 
siderable numbers on Mount Ida (the White Mountains, some 8,000 
feet high), and the craggy fastnesses of Sphakia, in Crete.* In Cyprus 
it is more rare, and, until lately, was in danger of extinction.! It 
was recently still to be seen on the rocks of the desert island of 
Pelagos, just outside the Gulf of Yolos. It had there defied the 
old flintdocks and even the smooth bores; but it has succumbed to 
the long-range rifles which the progress of "civilisation" brought Co 
bear on the unfortunate beast. It now claims, as its last refufife in 
Greece, the almost inaccessible little island of Anti-Milos, where the 
ibex seems to have lived and propagated from time immemorial. 

* The animal existed, in ancient times, in such large numbers, and was so prominent 
a natural feature of the country, that on the coins of Tylissos, situated on the spurs of Mount 
Ida, a youth is represented holding in one hand the head of an ibex, and in the other a bow. 
Their number must have been reduced only after the more general use of firearms by the 
mountaineers; for Belon, speaking of Mount Ida, says: "II y a grad nombre de ISoucs 
sauvages qu'on voit en troupeaux par la susdicte mdtagne. An interesting tradition attached 
to the Cretan ibex, indicative of its marvellous vitality, namely, that when hit it immediately 
sought the dittany of Mount Ida, on tasting which it was cured. The supposed medicinal 
effect of this plant on the wounded ibex has been the subject, with ancient authors, of 
numerous notices, which J. Meursius has collected {Creta, p. 97, 1 10-11). Even Aristotle 
{Hist. Anim. ix. 6), refers to the popular belief, adding : ''it appears that this (dittany) has the 
power of throwing off from the body [of the wild goat] the effects of the spear." 

+ The Cyprus papers announce that an English sportsman passed the whole of last 
autumn in the forests of Paphos in stalking the ibex (known locally as ayfxra) ; and that 
finally he bagged two specimens. I must here add that the British Administration of the 
island have very wisely enforced close time for different kinds of game, and have adopted 
stringent measures for the preservation of the ibex. 



GREECE 



i»i 



Anti-Milos, situated, as the name denotes, opposite Milos, some 
4^ miles to the west of the main island, is an oval-shaped rock i\ 
miles in length by i-| miles in its greatest breadth, rising to a height 
of 2,500 feet above the sea in sheer precipices. There is a slight 
depression about the middle of the rock, forming a saddle, and lower 
down, at the edge of the water, there is a corresponding levelling 
of the ground looking eastward, where a landing may be effected, 
if the weather is calm. Any disturbance of the sea renders the 
attempt extremely dangerous, and for the greater part of the year 
impossible. Indeed, those who do set foot on Anti-Milos run the 
risk of remaining weather-bound on the inhospitable rock for several 
days. 

The question then arises, how did the ibex get there ? The 
supposition that a couple may have been brought over from Crete 
is untenable, on the face of it. As, however, it is known that the last 
ibex disappeared from Mount St. Elias, in Milos, at a comparatively 
recent date, and as all the,' "surrounding islands are of volcanic forma- 
tion, it is quite conceivable that when the rock of Anti-Milos was 
wrenched from the main island it carried with it some of the animals, 
which survived the disruption, and were able to multiply in their 
changed home. 

It is computed that at the present time there are about one 
hundred head roaming over the island in small herds of from six to 
ten, led and watched over by one of the older bucks, which may be 
seen perched on some commanding rock, doing sentinel's duty while 
the others feed below. On such positions they are often detected 
by ships passing at no great distance, the sea being very deep all 



i8a SPORT IN EUROPE 

around the islet. These patriarchal rams are mostly hybrid, easily 
distinguishable by their dark yellow fleece ; and they arc the 
outcome of cross-breeding with the wild goats. The latter are prett) 
numerous on the island, having strayed from the llocks brought 
over from Milos, at certain seasons of the year, for the sake 
of pasturage. The hybrids are the bigger and more powerful 
animals, carrying superb ebony-black horns, which curve backwards, 
sabre-like, almost to the spine. The horns* of a Greek ibex, full- 
grown and weighing from 90 to 100 lbs., measure on the outward 
curve from 27 to 28 inches; those of smaller beasts of about 60 His., 
measure 16 inches, and of does, weighing 40 to 50 lbs., 6 to 7 inches. 
Young kids are not rarely offered for sale in the market at Canea 
by Cretan mountaineers, who are aware that early in the spring the 
does leave the herds and drop their young in caves situated below the 

* R. Pashley, in his classic and unrivalled work, Travels in Crete (London, 1S37. : vols. 
8vo), gives at the head of chapter xxxix. an engraving of a pair of horns he had obtained, 
measuring at the outer edge 31A inches, and on the inner edge 2;J, inches. The) 
examined by Mr. Rotham, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, who wrote: "The horn-, 
present the anterior trenchant edge characteristic of this species. The discovery of the 
segagrus in Crete is perhaps a fact of some zoological interest, as it is the first well- 
authenticated European locality of this animal." This was the first positive identification 
of the species ; for Belon and all subsequent writers supposed 11 to be the bouquetin of the 
Alps. The length of the pair of horns just referred to is very nearly that assigned by Homei 
(//. iv. 105) in the well-known description of the bow of 1'andarus: 

" AtViV e'trt'Xa t6$ov ivtoov, 2£dXou atybs 
ayplov, bv pd ttot' cu'tos, i'7t6 (TTipvoio rvxliaas, 
wirp-qs CKpaLvoi'Ta, HtdeypLivos iv TrpodoKyai, 
pef}\riKCt Trpis arijOos ' 6 5' virrtos tin-treat t^t/itj, 
rod ntpa. in KttpaXijs tKKaio(Kdoujpa. Tapi'Kti." 

where we have another vivid picture of hunting the ibex. The epithet bestowed mi it In 
Homer, rfaXos, the bounding, springing, reminds one of the "springbok " of South Afl ii .1 



GREECE 



i»3 



snow-zone. There they are easily captured as soon as they are 
weaned ; and, if taken at that early age, the bucks lose the offensive 
odour so characteristic of all the goat tribe, are easily tamed, and 
become most beautiful and playful pet animals. 

In its natural state, however, the ibex is a most wild and wary 
beast ; and the precipitous and inaccessible rocks over which they 
spring with surprising ease and grace render them practically un- 
approachable. Add to this the marvellous assimilation of their colour 
to their surroundings, and their keen sense of smell and hearino-, 
and the difficulties of successfully stalking the ibex are easily 
conceived. At Anti-Milos, besides these difficulties and the arduous 
task of escalading almost perpendicular rocks, there are the goats, 
which allow themselves to be more easily approached, but which 
serve the ibex as advance guards and scouts. When at last there 
is a kill, it does not follow that the victim comes into the successful 
marksman's possession. Unless a flock is skilfully manoeuvred into 
comparatively level ground,.' the animal shot is as likely as not to 
drop into some gorge or crevice, from which there is no recovering 
it, or to be dashed to atoms by the fall from some high rock. In 
this way not a few of the remaining specimens at Anti-Milos are 
uselessly sacrificed, and it is to be feared that, with the new long- 
range rifles, they will soon completely disappear. Another danger 
threatening this herd is the cross-breeding with the wild goats which 
is going on, and which is almost impossible now to prevent. 

Pashley (vol. ii. p. 271) gives the following interesting account, as 
related to him m conversation by an intelligent Cretan mountaineer, 
Captain Vasili Khalis, of Theriso : "The agrimia are so active that 



1 84 SPORT IN EUROPE 

they will leap up a perpendicular rock of 10 or 14 feet high ; the) 
spring from precipice to precipice, and bound along with such speed 
that no dog would be able to keep up with them, even on better 

ground than that where they are found. The sportsman must never 
be to windward of them, or they will perceive his approach long 
before he comes within musket-shot. They often carry off a ball. 
and unless they fall immediately on being struck arc mostly lost to 
the sportsman, although they may have received a mortal wound. 
They are commonly found two, three, or four together; sometimes 
a herd of eight or even nine is seen. A party of four Thdrisiotes 
killed two wild goats about 18 19, one of which weighed 28 okes 
[an oke=2 - 83 lbs.] and the other 35. They are always larger than 
the common goat. In the winter time they may be tracked by the 
sportsman in the snow. It is common for men to perish in the 
chase of them. They are of a reddish colour (kokkivo), and never 
black or party-coloured, like the goat ; the number of prominences 
on each horn indicates the years of the animal's age." Another 
authority, second only to Pashley, Captain T. A. B. Spratt. sa\ s 
{Travels atid Researches in Crete. London, 1S65, ii. p. 1 ;) of the 
ibex: "We had seen several others in the ascent [of Mount Ida], 
some forty in all, but they were too wary of any approach of man. 
They were not to be taken, even by a Highland deer-stalker and 
keen sportsman like my friend and companion Drummond. but 
bounded away as soon as they were perceived over snow and steep, 
crag and precipice, until they had gained another commanding peak 
far out of reach of gun and rifle, and there again they watchfully 
grouped themselves with their ponderous and sabre-shaped horns 



GREECE 185 

curved in relief against the western sky. Crete and the uninhabited 
islet of Anti-Milos are the only islands of the Archipelago in which 
the ibex is found, and their introduction into the latter island must 
have been from Crete." 








The above is a reproduction of Belon's illustration of the Cretan ibex — the earliest repre- 
sentation of the animal we possess, with the exception of that figured on the coins of 
Tylissos. More perfect than the latter, and of a still earlier date, are the engravings 
on three of the seals of the Graco-Phcenician age preserved in the Cyprus Museum 
(Nos. 4527, 4561, and 4584), which in J. L. Myres and Ohnefalsch-Richter's Catalogue 
(Oxford, 1899) are said to represent "a goat," but which are unmistakably presentments 
of the ibex ; the first and third, more especially, being most vivid and full of movement. 

The island of Anti-Milos is the private property of a Greek 
gentleman at Milos, who gives friendly permits to shoot the ibex, 
only too readily. He is said to be more sparing of the goats. 



i86 SPORT IN EUROPE 

either because he trusts the ability of the ibex to take care of itself, 
or because he is misinformed as to the value of his possession. The 
Greek ibex has at times been exhibited at the Zoological Gardens, and 
specimens from Asia Minor are shown in the Natural History Museum. 
Within easy sail of Milos, there are two localities where big game 
is more varied and abundant than in any other Greek -speaking 
country. South of Cape Lindos, in the island of Rhodes, there is a 
mountainous district with several streams winding through the gorges 
to the sea. Here wild pig, wild asses and deer are still to be met 

with in fair numbers. Even greater is the abundance 

Big Game of , . r , , . , ,,. . ... 

. 7 ... and variety of such bi<>' rame in the Sirvissar district 

Asia Minor. } ° ° 

of Asia Minor, beyond Smyrna and towards Ephesus, 
among the mountain gorges through which the waters find their \\a\ 
to the sea. Panthers also and hyenas are occasionally met here, and 
on the Black Mountains beyond there is excellent ibex shooting. 
These districts are approachable by the Smyrna- Aidin-Dinair Railwa) 
line ; but this country is not within the scope of the present work. ' 



II.— SMALL GAME 

Small game in Greece consists of hares, rabbits, rock-doves, 
pheasants, and partridges, all of which are indigenous to the 

* It may, however, be stated here that the only thoroughly well-organised sportsmen's 
club in the Levant was established in Smyrna in 1890 by the exertions and under the 
presidency of Mr. Alfred Van Lennep. It consists of some 500 members, occupies a fine 
club-house, has imposed strict regulations of close seasons for the different kind-. of game, 
and has organised sportsmen's trains on the railway i<> the interior. The president and 
his brother, Mr. Oscar Van Lennep, both enthusiastic sportsmen, own extensive farms in 
the best shooting and hunting districts in that neighbourhood 



GREECE 187 

country, the latter being particularly abundant. They are met 

with almost everywhere on the mainland and the islands, their 

abundance varying according to local conditions. 

Rabbits, the rapid increase of which has elsewhere grown into 

a plague, are not over-plentiful in Greece. They are present in 

respectable force in the islands of Myconos, Lemnos, 

Delos, and in the southern part of Andros, haunting TT 

r ° and Hares. 

generally the clusters of rocks. They are of a light 
grey colour, similar to the kind known as rock-rabbits. Hares, 
being eagerly sought for the market, are becoming less plentiful. 
They are more frequently met with in the islands, and principally 
in the north part of Andros ; but they are extremely wary, more 
especially in localities where flocks of sheep are pastured, sheep- 
dogs hunting them steadily on their own account. 

Pheasants of the black-necked variety, once plentiful, are fast 
disappearing in Greece proper. Stray instances are still recorded 
in the northern provinces. Hut most of those which are 

occasionally offered at poulterers' shops in Athens come Pheasants 

and Rock- 
from Salonica. Not very long ago they abounded ^oves 

near the Sperchios, and a few may still be met with 

in the Poliana Forest, in Thessaly. Rock-doves frequent the stony 

cliffs on the coast, but, owinQ- to the disregard of all close season, 

they are being rapidly exterminated, though their flesh is not very 

toothsome. 

The partridge may be said to have always been the stock bird 

of the country, the Perdix graca being so named 

Partridges. 
with good reason. This is the species commonly 



188 SPORT IN EUROPE 

known as red-legs, and by gamekeepers, I believe, facetiously nick- 
named "Frenchmen." It is, without doubt, the most beautiful 
species of its family, and the bright colouring of its lower limbs is 
so pronounced that the bird cannot be mistaken for any other 
species. The other and less showy kind, the grey partridge not 
unlike the brown bird of the English stubbles — is more frequentlj 
met with in the Turkish provinces. There are other varieties 
(Caccadis chukar, Caccabis saxatilis), induced by local conditions 
of food, soil, and the cover protecting them ; for their power of 
assimilation to the surrounding is quite marvellous. These varie- 
ties are included in the Perdrix dcs Montagues of the French, as 
distinguished from the better fed, but less palatable, Perdrix dcs 
Champs. They frequent the bushes of arbutus and hurnet thorn 
on the hillsides, and the agnns castus in the gorges. They are 
plump, strong fliers, weighing from 15 to 18 oz., and extremely 
cunning in taking shelter in crevices and holes, such as abound on 
the hillsides or the cliffs about the islands. When they espy danger, 
a few will rise, spreading in all directions ; but the covey will squat 
well under cover, to take wing immediately after the first shot has 
been fired. In the keen and limpid atmosphere of Greece they 
behave as if gifted with a powerful sense of smell ; for, if they are 
to leeward, they become at once aware of the approach of the 
sportsman. They will feed unconcernedly enough in the furrows 
after a ploughman ; but at the approach of a stranger they first 
run with outstretched wings, and then rise. The Greek peasant 
and shepherd are very expert in discovering their whereabouts 
from indications and sounds undetectable by an ordinal - ) sportsman, 



GREECE 189 

and, advancing carefully in their noiseless sandals, they will brino- 
down more birds with their old flint-locks than the best of modern 
guns. The islands present the best fields for red-leg, especially 
Lemnos and Imbros, perhaps because the birds remain more un- 
disturbed in those less-frequented localities. 



III.— MIGRATORY GAME 

The Greek peninsula and the islands of the v^Egean are, by 

reason of their geographical situation, the most important pied a 

terre on the great route of bird migration from north 

Importance 
to south, and vice versa. They also offer a temporary f Greece to 

resting-place to the minor bird caravans which travel Migrating 

Fowl. 
from east to west, starting; from India and Afghanistan 

to seek, by way of Persia and Asia Minor, summer quarters in 

Europe. Twice a year immense flocks of wild birds, passing over 

these lands, make an enforced sojourn in Greece for rest and 

recuperation before proceeding further on the periodical journeys 

which the rigours of climate and the search for food impose 

upon them. 

One of the most noteworthy features of these flights is the fact, 

which has recently been ascertained in Greece, that, although the 

direction of the main route remains fixed, the flocks travelling by 

night make a diversion towards any powerful light. For instance, 

the erection of a lighthouse on the Flevae Islands has deflected 

towards Cape Sunium the flight of the quails which formerly 

alighted always in the neighbourhood of Vari, not iar trom Athens. 



i 9 o SPORT IN EUROPE 

The use of lighted torches in attracting game is mentioned by 
Xenophon, and this stratagem is still practised bj the peasants ql 
Maina (the extreme southerly point of the Peloponnesus) as well as 
in the island of Cerigo, where the quails fall in myriads alter their 
over-sea flight from the north of Africa. In many instances they 
alight on the land so exhausted that they are easily caught in nets, 
and then fattened for the market. 

Generally speaking, wherever tongues of land project into the 
sea, it is almost certain to find that quails and other migratory 
birds have broken their journey and are resting there. Hut some 
of the best quail shooting will be found about Port Lero, in Mitylene ; 
also at Kos, Amorgos, Tenos, Thasos, and as far north as Malakasi 
and Salonica. 

Another remarkable phenomenon, not satisfactorily explained so 
far, is that the winds which seem to favour most the presence "I 
migratory birds are those blowing in a direction contrary to their 
route. Such at least is the experience among local sportsmen 
in Greece, who eagerly scan the weather when bent upon a shooting 
expedition. 

The first bird to make its appearance, as a herald of the ap- 
proaching invasion, is the landrail, preceding the quail by ten days 

to a fortnight ; and it is for this reason aptly nick- 

Ls.ndr3.ils 

' named bv the French of the south, Ic Roi des cailUs. 
etc. ; 

I'pon the wake of these there follow in quick succession 
countless hosts of woodcock, snipe, moorhen, plover (green and 
golden), sand-grouse, as well as lesser bustard in smaller flocks. (Of 
the wild fowl, specially so called, I shall speak presently.) As they 



GREECE 191 

arrive they scatter over the country and, in the localities which they 
favour, the thorn covers and the swamps become alive with them. 
With the autumn the massacre begins all through the Levant, and, 
as the winter season draws near and birds become scarcer, sportsmen 
pray for a fall of snow to drive the survivors down. 



IV.— WILD FOWL 

This class of migratory game is perhaps the most plentiful, when 
in season, and it offers the most exhilarating sport in the Levant, 
owing to the fact that the country abounds in well-sheltered bays 
and inland waters, while the estuaries of most of the rivers are 
undisturbed by habitations or the bustle of shipping. Many lagoons, 
also, and marshes are formed by streams the flow of which is 
still unregulated. Wild fowl, therefore, readily congregate in large 
numbers in such secluded and safe spots, where food is plentiful 
in the mud and in the washings from upland, and where reed-beds 
and rushes, growing thick, afford excellent cover. 

The two principal centres for wild fowl are the neighbourhoods 

of the gulfs of Volos and of Salonica in the east, and Port Platea 

and the Bay of Butrinto towards the west. In the direction of 

Volos the best marshes are near Katerina, at the foot 

of Mount Olympus ; but they are not easy of access, Volos > 

. -. Salonica, 

the coast being unsafe for small boats. Such difficulties, an( j ther 

however, and the uncertainties of the shooting of wild resorts. 

fowl, add to the charm of the sport. 

These points are annually visited by large flocks of duck, both 



i 9 2 SPORT IN EUROPE 

common and scaup, tufted and speckled ; by brent geese, grey geese 
and grey lag; by pochard and avocet ; by mute and hooper swans; 
by red-shank, scoter, sand-snipe, godwit, curlew, and occasional grebe. 
Wigeon mostly keep to the sea in daytime, but may be shot coming 
to roost at nightfall. Teal and mallard are to be met with in cold 
weather near lagoons, and at the great marsh of Platila, some 
three miles distant from Canea, in Crete. Formerly a very fine 
species of duck, known locally as "green-headed," Prasino-kephalos 
(the vfjvtra /W/ca? of the ancients), was indigenous to Lake Copais. 
but it has almost disappeared after the drainage of that great marsh. 

Magnificent wild swans are to be found in large flocks in the 
shallows of the Gult ot Salonica, which extend far into the sea, 

and offer these fowl safe covers among the reeds ; 

Wild 11 u- u u i 

ribbon-grass, which grows there m great luxuriance, 

Swans. ° f 

being their principal staple of food. The only prac- 
ticable means of approaching within shot of these beautiful birds 
is in a flat-bottomed punt, and then with every precaution and 
the utmost stillness ; else they will rise at the least indication of 
danger, and their wild bugle-cry, the loud flapping of their wings, 
will give the alarm for miles around, and flock after (lock will set 
on the move along the entire coast with a bewildering clamour. 
The best time to approach the swan is on a still night, with a 
bright moon ahead, paddling your punt slowly, and warily watching 
your chance to fire. 

P.S. — Since the above was in type a friend of mine, who has 
had recent experience of sport in Greece, suggests, in explanation 



GREECE 193 

of the phenomenon referred to on p. 190, that when the wind is 
helpful to the flight of the birds they usually continue their journey ; 
but when it blows hard against them they get exhausted, and come 
to ground to rest and recuperate. 

He also reminds me that a favourite way with the peasants to 
entice the partridge is to use a tame bird as decoy, locally known 
as KpdxTis (from Kpafa, to call). The decoy -bird, a cock, is hidden 
in a cage among the long grass or rushes, where it starts its peculiar 
call — " Kek, kek, kek, kek-e-lek." The hens are especially ready 
to respond to this call, and soon gather around from all directions, 
giving the gunner fine opportunities. 



V.— FAVOURABLE LOCALITIES 

To the indications already given incidentally, it may prove of 
service to add the following; data. 

Almost all the islands 'of the Archipelago offer good sport in 
season. So also do certain localities in Attica — Bo°iati, Deikeleia 
(Tatoi), Oropos, and the shores of Marathon ; and stray instances 
of wild pig are recorded near Malakasi and Kako-Salesi. 

In the north-east the railway from Volos to Larissa passes by a 
lake which is usually well-stocked with wild fowl. About ten miles 
from Volos is Port Surpi, and the great marsh near by affords capital 
shooting. 

In the Peloponnesus the country around Nauplia may be neglected; 
but proceeding thence to Argos and further towards Arcadia, a fine 
country for shooting varied game will be crossed. 



i 9 4 SPORT IN EUROPk 

Immediately to the north of Navarino Harbour an extensive 
marsh will be found; it is deep in places and overgrown with reeds 

which in season cover numerous flocks. The northern shore at the 

entrance of the Gulf of Corinth is reputed as one of the best fields 

for woodcock. About five miles from Cape Papas (Araxos) there is 

another marsh, with pretty firm bottom, where duck, teal and snipe 

may be encountered in abundance. 

Coming to the Ionian Islands, two miles from Laverdale Bay, 

in Santa Maura, there is good shooting of ducks and woodcock in a 

marsh and covers near by. Xante sometimes offers a 

_ , ' , . fair field, inland and towards the outer coast. Twelve 
Islands * 

miles to the south of the town of Corfu there is an 
extensive marsh where snipe congregate. The " Val d'Europi 
marsh contains duck in considerable flocks ; but they are much 
scared by the constant visitations of dilettanti sportsmen. 

Corfu is the headquarters for shooting expeditions to die opposite 
coast of Epirus — known to the tourist as "Albania. " which, however, 
according to geography, is the name of the country to the north of 
Epirus. Reference has already been made to the excellent sport 
obtainable here, and the fame which the district has acquired with 
sportsmen is not exaggerated. In certain seasons it simply teems 
with game of every kind. Landing is effected gencralk at ButrintO 
Bay, and there Turkish permits must be obtained, guides secured, 
and guards judiciously mollified. Along the banks of the Butrino, 
up to the lake of that name, there are lagoons and marshes and 

* Sonic noti-b on sport in these islands are to be found in Travels in the East, l>> 111 
and K . II. the Crown l'rinco Rudolph London, i SS4. Bvo, pp. 6-19. 



GREECE 195 

covers where game hardly ever lacks and where shooting becomes 
enjoyable, and is, generally speaking, well rewarded. 

As a rule, both on the mainland and the islands, wherever there 
are bushes of arbutus, scrub-oak, carob and bramble, within easy 
reach of cultivated land, it may be assumed that game will be found. 
The densely growing burnet thorn (Poterium spinosum), which covers 
much of the ground, bears small black berries on which the red-leg 
feeds greedily. Consequently such covers should be well searched. 
Agnus cashes and oleander tufts line the streams, and are also 
favoured retreats of game. When grapes begin to ripen, the vine- 
yards are full of blackbirds ; and even hares are known to grow fat 
on the fruit of the vine. 

VI.— DOGS 

A very prominent feature of the open country in Greece are 
the sheepdogs, and many travellers have carried away disagreeable 
reminiscences of them.* 'There is little doubt they can claim direct 
descent from the old Molossian breed, renowned in antiquity for 
their ferocity.t They know a stranger by his dress, differing as it 
does so materially from that of the shepherds whom they faith- 
fully serve, and will greet the intruder with loud barkings, while they 
manoeuvre around him with bewildering tactics. As they feed 
mostly on offal and carrion, the danger of blood-poisoning and 
hydrophobia is great. Unless, therefore, you adopt the wisest course, 
which is to give a very wide berth to sheepfolds, there is but one 

* T. S. HUGHES, Travels in Greece and Albania, 1830, i. pp. 489, 501. 

t OiT/tKotraros 5t k6w» MoXotftfuy, cttci OvfxibtiyraToi Ktxi oi dvOpcs. .-ELIAN, A\S., iii. 2. 



196 SPORT IN EUROPh 

safe remedy in case of encounter. Never attempt to beat nit your 
assailant with a stick or stone : for he will then surely fly at you ; 
nor shoot at him, unless you are prepared for unpleasant conclusions 
with the shepherds. Adopt rather the very simple expedient of 
Ulysses and squat on the ground, looking' very inoffensive. The 
dog will never touch you, but will continue barking until his master, 
urged also by your own appeals, comes to the rescue and calls "It 
your tormentor, who will then obey as implicitly as did the dugs of 
Eumseus "the divine swineherd." The conditions of peasant life 
in Greece have never changed. 

These shepherd dogs are sometimes trained to sport. What 
other sporting dogs are to be found in Greece are mixed breeds of 
foreign importation. There is only in Crete one indigenous sporting 
race, of which Pashley says: "The Cretan animals are all of one 
race, and are peculiar to the island. Tournefort (i. 95) calls them 
des Idvriers bdtards. They are smaller than the greyhound, and have 
a longer and rougher coat of hair ; their head is somewhat like that 
of the wolf; they follow their game by scent, and are very sagacious 
animals, resembling, in every respect, the lurcher rather than the 
greyhound. I feel no doubt that these dogs are the undebascd 
descendants of those mentioned by ancient authors."' 

A dog is indispensable in Greece, especially when shooting near 
cliffs in the islands, where birds hit often drop into the sea A dog 
also saves much trouble in searching the rough undercliffs, and is 
invaluable in marshes, in reclaiming game from among the long 
and thickly-growing reeds. In a word, it brings in many a head ol 
* /Elian, N..-1., iii. 2, and Meursius' Creta, p. 95. 



GREECE 197 

game which otherwise would be lost. Avoid, however, reddish- 
coloured dogs, which, at a distance, are hardly distinguishable from 
the ground-colour. Setters and pointers are the most serviceable. 



VII.— GENERAL INFORMATION 

It remains for me to enumerate general rules as to modus operandi, 
commissariat, etc. 

By far the most enjoyable, as well as the most effective, mode of 

procedure is to make one's headquarters in a yacht, thus readily 

attaining all important points in a country so thoroughly 

indented by the sea as Greece is, and easily returning- 

J / & Quarters. 

on board to repose and refit. This plan is all the more 
advantageous as inns and hostelries do not exist, as a rule, in those 
parts of the country where the shooting- is best. The peasants are 
well disposed towards strangers, and extremely hospitable. But the 
accommodation they are able to offer may not always be found 
comfortable. 

In cases where it is proposed to spend a night or two in the 
country, one should be provided with blankets and, if possible, with 
light bedding and air pillows. A change of underclothing may be 
found useful, as also a waterproof. 

Eggs and an occasional fowl may easily be requisitioned in the 
country. Fruit is plentiful and cheap in season. Milk freshly drawn 

from the sheepfolds is delicious ; and good cafe a la 

Provisions. 
Turque may be procured everywhere. But other pro- 
visions are scarce, or such as are procurable may be found unpalatable 



198 SPORT IN EUROPE 

to a stranger. It is therefore advisable to have at ham! tinned 
soup, cocoa, fresh bread and biscuits. A small quantity of sultana 
raisins and dried figs eaten with biscuits have, especially in that 
climate, more sustaining power than a large quantity of meat and 
cooked food. The currants grown in the country an- even better, 
producing in the system, as they do, a sense of comforting warmth 
which dispenses with the use of spirituous stimulants. 

Mules should be enyacred for the bagfjjagfe. In short excursions, a 
man to carry cartridgednags and lunch-basket is well worth his 
p ac j c pay, which is never exorbitant. The same man, if well 

Animals and chosen, may serve as a guide; but never be misled b) 
unauthenticated assurances of the presence of plentiful 
game. Most country people will say what they believe to be 
agreeable to a stranger, in the hope that it may prove true. A 
spare quantity of English sporting gunpowder and cartridges will 
be found extremely useful as a present to guides and to peasants who 
may render services. 

Rise early and be on the move before sunrise. The best shooting 
is over by 10 a.m. ; and it is necessary to rest and have a siesta in 
the middle of the day, when the heat is exhausting, ami may prove 
dangerous even to the dogs. Moreover, little game is then moving : 
it reappears after three or four, when operations may be resumed till 
sunset. 

FISHING 

In a country which is practically a succession of islands and 
peninsulas, fishing becomes a most important factor in the industry 



GREECE 



199 



and livelihood of its inhabitants. From the sporting point of view, 
however, fishing in Greece can hardly be said to exist. The 
most usual manner of fishing for the market supply is by means 
of the tratte, as called in the Levant, i.e. the seine or draw-nets, 
which are dropped far out at sea, the two ends being attached to 




CREWS LANDING THE NETS 

long row-boats of eight to twelve pair of oars each, reminding one 
of the triremes of the ancients. Thus a broad strip of sea is swept 
by the net. On approaching the shore the crews of the boats dis- 
embark in shallow water and land the nets on the beach. This 
mode of fishing is known to have been practised by the Phoenicians 
and has subsisted in Greece from remote antiquity. Sailing boats 
are similarly used, and line-fishing from a row-boat is also practised as 



200 



SPORT IN EUROPE 



a pastime. But amateur fishermen generally have recourse t<> a 
rod and tackle from either a boat anchored near the shore or from 
some rock on the beach. Good sport is sometimes the result : but 
as the size and kind of possible customers for the bait thrown out 
is an undefinable quantity at sea, both hook and tackle are often 
carried away by some unseen monster. 

Of fresh-water fishing there is hardly any in Greece, except for 
eels in some of the lakes. There are, however, excellent trout to 
be had in the Bay of Avlona and in most of the streams of Epirus 
which flow towards that sea. Salmon also, of an excellent quality 
but small size, is met with there. On the whole, fishing as a sport 
in Greek waters has still to be organised into some kind of system. 




ANGLING IN THE BAY OF PH.U.KKIM 



HOLLAND 




. 




THE LATE MR. E. K. KORTHALS AND HIS GRIFFONS 

' > "- 

HOLLAND 

By THE BARON F. W. DE TUYLL 

I.— SHOOTING 

TV /I OST of the shooting in Holland is what the English call 

■!■»-* rough-shooting, walking up the game over dogs. The part of 

Holland where most game is found lies along the coast of the North 

Sea, in the sand-dunes near the beach, covered with a kind of coarse 

grass called "helm," and moss; further inland grows a kind of thorn- 

203 



2o 4 SPORT IN EUROPE 

bush, carrying orange-coloured berries, of which the pheasants are 
very fond ; while beeches and oaks are found in the dales behind 
the sand-hills. 1 have been told that Napoleon 1., on coming to 
Holland, found the sand-hills quite denuded of any kind of vegeta- 
tion, and of course the wind used to play the mischief with this 
natural sea-wall. He remembered, however, having seen in the 

Landes, in the south-west of France, how "helm" 
The Dunes 

was used to strengthen the sand-hills, anil he ordered 

people to come from there and plant that grass over here. In other 

parts of Holland fairly good shooting is only found where game is 

strictly preserved, as the country is very thickly populated, and, there 

being no law of entail, landed property is very much divided. Large 

tracts of heath are found in some provinces, but game is scarce. 

Partridges, hares, pheasants and woodcock are found in all the 

provinces ; rabbits also, but particularly in the s;md-dunes. where they 

are met with in verv yreat numbers, and they afford 
Rabbits. ' 

very pretty shooting when the guns walk them up, not 

when, as is unhappily too often the case, they are driven. It is a 

great pity spaniels are so seldom used, as, to my mind, they afford 

the nicest shooting, and, when quiet, they do not disturb the 

pheasants. It requires a quick eye ami a sure shot to kill the rabbits 

well when they bolt, and they certainly form the music of the feast. 

The dogs used for partridge shooting are mostly pointers and sellers 

where these birds are in goodly numbers; for general use. German 

dogs are in demand, both griffons and other breeds. Retrievers are 

seldom seen. Coursing is practised, but not in the 
Coursing. 

orthodox way. It is done simply as a way ol catching 



HOLLAND 205 

the hare, and often three or four doo^s running loose with their master 

hunt the animal to death. 

Battue shooting is in vogue for pheasants, hares, woodcocks and 

rabbits, but we never get the heavy bags made in England, Prussia, 

or Austria, as, for the above-mentioned reasons, we 

Battues. 
have only a very few large landed proprietors, and also 

because pheasant rearing is never practised on a large scale. 

Red deer are found in the province of Gelderland, mostly in the 

Royal Park at Loo. Sta^s are shot by driving^, rifles 

/ & . Red Deer- 

being used. Very fine heads are obtained yearly. 

Roebuck are pretty plentiful in that and the neighbouring provinces, 

where also black rame is found. 

Holland once used to be a paradise for wild-fowlers, but now 

nearly all the lakes have been drained, and the large numbers of 

snipe, duck, teal, and sfeese have ©ready diminished. 

^ to . . Wild Fowl. 

Good sport is, however, still obtainable in some parts, 

as, for instance, in the province of Zeeland and on the islands in the 

North Sea — Texel, Vlieland and others. English amateurs and 

professionals used to come in the winter and slaughter large numbers 

of ducks with punt guns. Nowadays, the Government, through 

asking a high price for a punt licence, protects in some measure the 

native wild-fowlers, who never used punt guns. In the winter, most 

kinds of wild duck are found, and very often swans and several 

kinds of geese are killed. 



2o6 SPORT IN EUROl'I. 



II.— HAWKING 

Hawking is no longer a pastime. King William II., the grand 

father of our present Queen, founded a Hawking ( lul> 
Falcons for T . _ . , ,- , 

England at ^°°> ano - very hue sport was enjoyed, the falcons 

being chiefly flown at herons. But since his death 
no hawking has taken place. The descendants of his falconer, 
Mollen, live in Brabant, and there, at Valkenswaanl, they catch 
falcons on the passage, which they train and afterwards export to 
England. 



The Royal Nimrod Club, founded twenty-five years ago, 

promotes all kinds of sport related to shooting ; at the same time 

it is an association to prevent poaching. Field trials are yearly 

organised with great success; among owners of winning dogs I may 

mention Mr. G. J. van der Vliet, whose setters are well known in 

France and Belgium. Live pigeons are not shot, but clay pigeons 

are used instead ; and a great many prizes are shot for during the 

summer months. This club also organises yearly dog 
Dog Shows. 

shows, which, according to English judges and ex 

hihitors, are among the best managed in the world. Of late, two 

other clubs — "Cynophilia" ami "Nederland" — have been formed for 

the purpose of exhibiting (.logs, and their shows have been ver) 

successful. 



HOLLAND 



III.— HUNTING 

The only province where there is any hunting is Gelderland, 
where two packs of hounds are found. One consists of thirty French 
staghounds, bdtards poitevins, hunting roebuck twice a week. The 
owner and master is Baron W. de Heeckeren. The other is a 
subscription pack of foxhounds, hunting a drag once a week. At 
the end of the drag a fox is killed, as in Pau and Rome. The 
master is Count S. de Stirum. 

IV.— FISHING 

Salmon and trout fishing" not being- obtainable in Holland, owing 
to the permanently muddy state of the rivers, the only fishes that give 

the angler sport are pike and perch, fished for with 

. , , .. . . ,, , . Pike and 

either the spoon or live bait. Very good specimens are p erc h 

got by either method, and a 1'5-lb. pike and a 3-lb. perch 

are not unusual. I need not describe these universal methods of 

fishing, but there is another method of catching fine pike and perch, 

which I am sure is very little known to Englishmen, as, in fact, my 

own countrymen are not all aware of it. At one time of the year, 

August and September generally, a kind of green weed is found in 

patches on the surface of the canals and ditches (I 

ii- 1 t- i- 1 11 1 m \ 1 A New Way 

believe the English name is "duck weed ). A short . r a t c h pike 

line is used, and a strong hook baited with a big worm. 

This is moved quickly and lightly on the surface of the weeds, and the 

perch or pike will follow this bait and seize it with great voracity. 



208 SPORT IN EUROPE 

I suppose they mistake it for a frog or duckling, as it is not likely 

that a large pike would disturb himself for a worm. It is quite 

astonishing' how wildly a pike will rush at this bait, and often come 

back to it several times after missing. A perch will often take the 

worm if one lets it sink through the weeds, but a pike never. 

Sea fishing is hardly ever practised by amateurs, except in the 

summer months, from the piers at Ymuiden, where 
Sea Fishing. 

sometimes thousands of "peterman "■ are caught by 

a single rod in one day. 

* i.e. Weevers. — En. 



ITALY 



;'• 




H.M. I ill-. LATE KING "1 ITALY AND III> RECORD [BEX 







ITALIAN CHAMOIS 



ITALY 

By COUNT SCHEIBLER* 



I.— SHOOTING 

"^ H E legislative unity that has so rapidly and so successfully 

-■- followed on the establishment of the Italian kingdom must 

astound everyone who pauses to consider the difficulties that must 

have confronted the organisers : almost irreconcilable differences of 

* Author of a new book, Seven Years' Big uaim Shooting in Various Parts of the World, 
recently published. 



212 SPORT IN EURO PI'! 

character, of customs, and of tradition among the widel) diversified 

peoples of the old stales. In one respect only matters were left 
unchanged: the game laws have not yet been brought under one 
uniform code, but have remained subject to the various regulations of 

the old states. One right only is recognised throughout all Italy, and 
that is the right of the sportsman to kill game in every part of the 
country, provided he takes out a licence costing 15 lire,* and respe< ts 
the close seasons and other regulations prescribed in the different 
localities. Of such licences great numbers avail themselves, as all 
classes in Italy are exceptionally fond of shooting. Everybody likes 
to walk through the fields carrying a gun, even with the poor chance 
of shooting no more than a wretched little sparrow. Those who do 
not care for shooting find their amusement in netting, and even 
ecclesiastics have a taste for this insidious pursuit, that makes terrible 
havoc among the birds, even among song birds, and those .species 
most beneficial to the agriculturist. In the month ol May, when the 
quail arrive so exhausted by their passage over tin- Mediterranean 
that they are barely able to make the land, and thing so low that, if 
the sea is at all rough, main' are caught by the waves and drowned, 
special trains take a crowd of licensed shooters from Rome to the 
seashore to meet the tired birds, who are, on their arrival, received 
with a murderous fire, and are slaughtered on the threshold of the 
land where they hoped to breed. A yet worse destruction is effected 
by nets spread to welcome them on landing. 

Altogether, there is not the necessary protection for the breeding 
of game in Italy that would encourage the landowners to preserve their 
* A lira is the same as a franc, i.e. 9W. 



ITALY 



213 



farms. Not only is there a lack of control during" the breeding season 
on the part of the police, but the laws regulating exclusive shooting- 
rights on one's own property vary in different parts of the country, 
and are difficult to enforce, the more so as the authorities often give 
way to the influence of political factions hostile to game preserves. 
Consequently, sport of this kind is limited in Italy, while the shooting" 
of migratory birds is still productive in many parts, as these fowl have 
to pass over the peninsula on their way to and from the warmer 
climates that they have to seek at the appointed season. Neverthe- 
less, there are still wild and uncultivated, and almost inaccessible spots 
in Italy, on the slopes of the Alps and Apennines, 

among the woods of the Tuscan Maremma, in the „ , , 
& of Italy. 

Pontine marshes and among the mountains of Sardinia, 

in which the sportsman can find big game, such as chamois, wild boar, 

deer and moufflon. The bear and wolf may be regarded as extinct. 

Naturally the finest and best stocked are the royal preserves. 

Victor Emmanuel was passionately fond of shooting, and a first-class 

sportsman ; to him we owe the preservation of the ibex (Ital. Stain - 

bccco). for, if he had not made a reserve for it on both slopes of the 

Dora Baltea, consisting of the highest peaks of the Graian Alps, the 

species, that had already become very scarce, would have vanished . 

altogether. The headquarters of the shooting is at the 

"Gran Paradiso," and the camps are at Valsavaranche, I° ex 

Preserved 
Ceresole, and Cogne. These remain at a height of j n ita.lv 

about 2,000 metres,* while the shooting extends to an 

altitude of 4,000. The haunt of the ibex is on the summit of the 

* i.e. rather over 6,000 feet. 



2i 4 SPORT IN EUROPE 

mountains above the region favoured by the chamois. The ibex 
runs with swift and sure foot across the rock slides that top the 
glaciers, leaping from point to pinnacle, and is capable of abruptly 
staying its dizzy flight on some point scarce large enough to accom 
modate its four feet. The male has, like the Asiatic species, a beard ; 
as a further distinction, the horns of the female are shorter. The 
average age of ibex is about fifteen years; the height ;it shoulder 
is about 35 inches; the weight may be as much as 150 lbs. clean. 
The record male horns bagged by his late Majesty King Humbert 
measure as follows (duly entered in the third edition of Rowland 
Ward's Records of fii° Game, p. 347) : — Length on front curve, 44^ ; 
circumference, 10+ ; tip to tip, 27. In the rutting season, from the 
middle of December until the end of January, the females live 
together in herds led by a male, who guides, defends, and warns them 
against danger. The young are dropped about the end of May, or 
during June. The ibex feeds on such grasses as it can find, as well 
as on shoots of the mountain willow, dwarf birch and- -rhododendrons. 
The proper months for shooting ibex are fuly and August, and 
some years also September, that is when die mountains have not 

become impassable with the fallen snow. The King 

The Royal . . , , . , , „ 

p used to ride a pony to the appointed ground, generally 

two hours or more from the cam]), at about 3,000 metres. 

by paths expressly cut for the purpose, and in some of the moraines 

supported by a wall, and, when skirting precipices, cut out of the solid 

rock. 

The beaters, picked from the hardy inhabitants of those valleys, 

are all first-class climbers, so that accidents are verj rare, in spite ol 



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ITALY 



2I 5 



the extreme difficulty of some of the climbs, many of which, over 
glaciers and rocks covered with frozen snow, have to be made in the 
darkness in order to reach the appointed ground by daybreak. 
Should the weather become stormy, wind, snow, or mist spoilino- the 




THE START FOR THE HUTSj 

sport, they have orders to return quietly to their homes without in 
any way disturbing the game. For a successful beat it was essential 
that the beaters, climbing from the opposite side, should reach the 
summit simultaneously, so as to compel the ibex to descend by the 
gully near which the King was posted, and where he had sometimes 
to wait as long as eight hours behind the stones heaped up in order 



216 SPORT IN EUROPE 

to hide him from the game. As ;i rule, when after ibex, he did not 
shoot at chamois, which, being faster than the ibex, always pas-, first. 

The late King Humbert inherited from his father a love for 
sport, his favourite pastime, his solace after the cares of state. Every 
year he repaired to the Alps for ibex and chamois shooting ; and his 
amiability and generous gifts ever made him the idol of the moun- 
taineers. During a fortnight's shooting, with intervals of rest, he 
killed on an average his fifty ibex, sparing both the females and the 
young males. His favourite weapon was always a Holland and 
Holland 450 Express, but he intended trying next year a 303. a 
resolve unfortunately never destined to be fulfilled. He was a first- 
rate shot; and at the last drive he shot four chamois running in one 
beat with one bullet to each. 

In the royal castle of Sarre, close to the citv of Aosta, arc 
hundreds of the ibex and chamois trophies of Victor Emmanuel, 
and King Humbert continually added to the collection. 

The chamois preserve is in Val del Gesso, with three camps : 
St. Anna di Yaldieri, St. Giacomo di Antracque, and Vinadio. The 
sport is arranged on the same system as described above. < hi an 
average, His Majesty shot his fifty chamois in a day. In the preserve 
of Castelporziano, near Rome, there are boar, sta^s, roedeer, and 
fallow deer. As this preserve is very thickly wooded, the King kept 
a pack of dogs to start the game At St. Rossore. near Pisa, there 
are boar, fallow deer, and a few red deer, as well as magnificent 
sport with wild fowl. Every week the King had from his keepers 
a statement about the number of birds. Count Brambilla, master 
of the royal preserves, was so good as to show me a recent report, 



ITALY 



217 




A S \kin\i \x 1 .ill > 1 



218 SPORT IN EUROPE 

which gave 4,400 geese, 7,600 ducks, and a fair arrival <>t snipe 
and woodcock. At Licola, near Naples, there arc vcA and fallow 
deer and wild boar, with capital duck shooting in the marshes. At 
Carditello there are woodcock, a hundred or two being sometimes 
bagged in a single day. 

Pheasants are reared at Monza, Stupinigi, Racconigi, ami Pollenza, 
in Piedmont, as well as at Capodimonte, near Naples. The King 
did not care about either stalking or shooting with dogs, but pre- 
ferred drives. 

The European moufflon {Ovis musimon), a species of sheep with- 
out wool and tailless, inhabits the highest peaks of the mountains 
of Sardinia during the winter, and in summer time is 

found in the woods along the lower slopes. Its favourite 

Shooting. 

haunts are in the mountains of Ogliastra and Barbagia, 
particularly the group of the Gennargentu ami the Pardeliana, that 
rise to a height of 4,000 feet above seadevel. 

Moufflon are generally found in herds. While, the rest are 
grazing, an old ram is always posted on a high rock keeping a 
good look out; scenting danger, he bellows and sets the whole 
company in flight. For this reason, they are difficult to stalk. 
Another peculiar habit is that the heaviest beast, instead of bringing 
up the rear, invariably marches ahead, suspicious and on his guard. 
To stalk moufflon with any chance of success, a local guide is 
indispensable, one knowing thoroughly the country ami the ways 
of the game. Mr. Wintrop Chanler, a well-known American sports 
man, visited Sardinia last December and succeeded in bagging 
four moufflon in five days' stalking. Local hunters, however, prefer 




MOUFFLON 



To /act f>ag<? 21S 



ITALY 219 

shooting moufflon in organised drives. Moufflon are readily tamed, 

and, indeed, their herds often mingle with the sheep, with which 

they are known to cross. The height of the moufflon is about 

27 inches ; the length of the horn, along- the outside curve, is 

about 30 inches. Detailed information on moufflon shooting in 

Sardinia may be found in Mr. E. N. Buxton's Short Stalks. 

Without a doubt, the finest sport that Italy offers to-day is 

chamois shooting in the Alps. The bracing air and lovely scenery 

would alone suffice to render the climbs delightful, even 

without success. The chamois may be shot in the 

Shooting. 
Italian Alps without taking a shooting. One of the 





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GLACIER ON THE PIZ TORENA 



22o SPORT IN EUROPE 

best preserves is that of Apnea, to which I myself belong. Tin- 
hotel at the pass of Aprica is reached in six hours' drive from 
Sondrio, in Valtellina; and, when the mules arc loaded, another 
three hours bring the party to the huts, which are built at an 
altitude of about 6,000 feet. My own favourite is the one just 
beneath the glacier of the Piz Torena, 9,000 feet high. There are 
two species of chamois : the peak chamois, tall ami woolly, with 
grey coats and having longer horns, frequenting the peaks and 
glaciers, and the wood chamois, smaller and more thick set, darker- 
skinned and carrying shorter and more curved horns, and found 
in the pine woods along the mountain side. It is unnecessary to 
add that the former species is the more attractive to the sportsman. 

Chamois live in herds. The rutting season lasts from the 
beginning of November throughout December, anil is tin- best for 
shooting the old bucks, which are then more easy to approach. 
Chamois choose for their dwellings the most inaccessible parts of 
the mountains, and feed on grasses, rhododendrons and shoots "I 
the mountain broom that grow plentifully in those localities. Each 
Hock has one or two guides. They teed in early morning ami in 
the evenings, ami between eleven and three they lie clown in the 
shade, generally in places where it is impossible to get within 
shooting range. When you see a flock resting at midday, the best 
thing is to post yourself in some pass commanding the road to the 
feeding ground, towards which, on awaking, they are likely to move, 
and you must be patient enough to await them there for perhaps 
three or four hours. The herd always travels under the guidance 
and care of an old male or old female. When a chamois is alarmed, 



ITALY 



221 



it utters a kind of sharp and prolonged whistle that can be heard 
afar in the mountains, and thus warns its companions. The chamois 
hunter must be an experienced climber, not subject to giddiness, 
and must be accompanied by a guide who thoroughly knows the 





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SHOOTING-HUTS IN THE ALPS 

mountains. He must refrain from shooting a chamois when it is 
apparent that, even with the use of ropes, the guide and keepers 
could not recover the body. 

I bagged my best buck October 29th, 1897, in the Aprica Pass, 
having as my guest at the time the well-known sportsman, Major 
C. C. Ellis, R.E., whom I had the fortune to meet during my Somali 



222 SPORT IN EUROPE 

expedition in 1893, and on another shooting trip to Ceylon in [894, 

That morning" we started early from the hut. The Major had to 
ascend a creek to get at a herd of chamois which had been seen 
by the keepers at its distant head the previous day, while I, having 
passed the ridge just beneath the glacier of l'iz Torena, had to 
shoot under the nearer summits, as I was suffering from a strain 
in the knee from the year before, that prevented my going too far. 
After I had for several hours skirted the mountain wall beneath tin- 
summit, I saw through my glasses the Major, who, far below me, was 
climbing the path up the valley. He signalled with his cap that there 
were chamois on the rocks under me. I clambered down with 
the guide, grasping tufts of grass to steady myself; but after we 
had advanced fifty yards or so I had to stop with my back to the 
wall, letting the guide creep to the edge and peep over for any sign 
of the chamois indicated by Ellis. While he was shaking his head, 
the shrill whistle of a chamois froze my blood, for 1 thought I must 
be discovered. Motionless I awaited the return of the guide ; and 
when he returned, we both saw a buck climbing the steep rocks, sunn 
way above us and to our right. It was evidently the animal that 
had sounded the alarm ; but as the wind was blowing from the 
valley it could not possibly have scented us, and we therefore came 
to the conclusion that it must have scented the Major, and that 
it must in fact be the identical beast he had signalled us about. 
We remained motionless, scanning it through the glasses, when, 
behold, another — a larger animal — appeared overhead on the snow, 
which, evidently alarmed by the whistle of its comrade, was steadily 
examining the cliffs and gulches of the mountain below him. After 



ITALY 223 

a while, detecting nothing suspicious, it became quiet and lay down 
in the snow a little higher up. Above it was a sharp point of rock, 
from the top of which I could have got a shot at the range of about 
150 yards. We held a council of war. The guide vowed that, if 




HAUNTS OF THE CHAMOIS 



we went round the neighbouring ridge, we should find a gulch by 
which he hoped that we could climb to the overhanging summit. 
I held, on the other hand, that, owing to the direction of the wind, 
the chamois would unquestionably scent us ; to which the guide 
rejoined that, as the glacier of the Torena was on the other side of 
the mountain, the air, rising from that direction, would certainly be 



224 SPORT IN EUROPE 

stronger, and the chamois would not scent us; and the result proved 
him to be right. In fact, in the narrow gorges of the Alps, only 
an experienced guide of the locality can judge the very changeable 
direction of the wind, which, rising on warm and sunny days from 
the Italian lakes, reaches the frozen peaks from all directions. 

Crawling round the edge, we got to the gulch of which the guide 
had spoken without being seen by the chamois, while, with my crippled 
knee, it seemed almost too hard a task to me to reach the wished-for 
pointed rock by climbing the steep wall above us. I retrained from 
looking down in the precipice, which abruptly descended in the valley 
at least 1,500 feet below us, for a slip would have meant instant death. 
But the guide assured me that, as the condition of the mountain was 
favourable, the weather dry and the rock then-fore sale, we would get 
there all right, as he would push me along with his head from behind. 
And so, helping myself with elbows and feet against the narrow walls 
of the gulch, and pushed by the guide, 1 at last, after an hour and 
a half of hard work, arrived quite out of breath at the desired spot, 
where I paused hidden behind a rock to recover my wind, a prey to 
the most violent emotions, tearing that in the meantime the chamois 
might have got our scent, and thus disappeared. My guide, unable 
to restrain his own impatience, thrust his head over the edge, but 
speedily withdrew it, from which I gathered with relief that the 
chamois was still there, taking a rest on the rock. 1 sighted carefully, 
and shot him still lying on the snow at about 150 yards, though it 
is usual to whistle before firing, which has the effect of making the 
animal stand erect, and thereby offer a far better target than when 
lying down. On being hit, the chamois stood up and remained 



ITALY 



225 



motionless as if dazed. The guide shouted, "He goes! he goes!" 
And I, knowing well that my bullet had gone home, felt rather 
vexed that he seemed to think that I had missed him. I let him 
have another bullet behind the shoulder, and on receiving it, he rolled 




A SHOOTING-HUT IN THE VALLEY 



over and over down a moraine and came to a standstill about 1,000 
feet below us. The guide said it was a splendid specimen, but I 
feared the horns might be broken in the fall ; and he then explained 
that by saying "He goes!" he had meant that he expected at any 
moment to see the animal roll over the precipice. It took us 
three-quarters of an hour to reach the body, and we then made sure, 



226 SPORT IN EUROPE 

to our great satisfaction, that this was the finest buck I had ever 
shot, and that the horns were intact. I was the more gratified at 
this success, as my guest, Major Ellis, had enjoyed good sport the 
day before, bringing back to camp air old chamois of approximately 
the same size as m\ own. The height of the Valtellina chamois is 
about 30 inches, its weight about 70 lbs clean: while the horns 
measure from 9 to 10 inches. In the course <>t that trip with the 
Major, which lasted four days, we bagged three chamois apiece, and 
satisfied ourselves that the best weapon for the work is the '303 with 
peg bullet. The result may not, perhaps, seem wonderful, but il 
one considers the sporting way in which we got them, our satisfaction 
will be understood. One chamois bagged after a good stalk is 
worth many killed in a beat. I always enjoy the splendid scenery 
seen from the crest of the Aprica, with views of the mountain ol 
the Disgrazia and the peaks of the Bernina range, recalling to me 
earlier recollections of the climbs from Pontresina, where, having as 
a youth of seventeen got through my examinations, I first tasted 
Alpine sport. 

Boar and deer are found in the Tuscan Maremma. in the wooded 

Boar and portions ol the Pontine marshes, in the Neapolitan 

Deer. woods, and in Sardinia. 

Hares are distributed all over Italy, on both the mainland and 

islands. The Alpine hares are grey ami larger than the rest: those 

found in Sardinia are dark and small in size. At 

R bb't altitudes above 6,000 feet in the Alps there is a kind 

of white hare, which, like the rabbits, burrows in the 

earth. There are also wild rabbits in Sardinia. 



ITALY 



227 




BRINGING IN THE CHAMOIS 



Pheasants are reared in some preserves in Lombardy, while in 
the Tuscan Maremma they still exist in the wild state. The caper- 
cailzie is found in the Cadore and Italian Tyrol, as 

Game Birds. 

well as the black grouse, ptarmigan and mountain 

partridge, a large red-legged partridge and the mountain trancolin. 



228 SPORT IN EUROPE 

The partridges found all over Italy are of the common species, though 

in Sardinia, where they are plentiful, there exists a painted variet) 
[Perdix rubra). 

Snipe shooting at the seasons of migration is good in the 

rice fields of Lombard)-, in the marshes along the coast, and par 

ticularly in those of Sardinia. The woodcock is mon 

Woodcock , , i • ivT i • i \ i i 

.„ . abundant earlv in November m the Alps and 

and Snipe. 

Apennines, while later on it is possible on certain days 

to make good bags in the woods of the Pontine marshes ami Southern 

Italy, and particularly in Sardinia, where a portion of them pass the 

winter. 

Quail reach Italy in May, and breed there in the months of 

June and July ; at the end of autumn the\ recross the 
Quail. . 

Mediterranean to breed again during winter time in 

Africa. Some remain in Sardinia. 

Sport with water-fowl is excellent in the spots ahead) named 

in connection with snipe, as the rice fields and bogs along the 

seashore. One characteristic national sport is coot 
Water-fowl. 

driving. The most important is the drive organised 

annually by the Duke di Sermoneta on his lake of Fogliano in the 

Pontine marshes. The sportsmen, each in a boat propelled by 

punting, are placed in line, ami between them then- arc other 

craft containing boatmen only, to complete the line and keep it 

closed. From one end of the lake the line of punts r< aches in 

the course of an hour ami a half the other, driving before il the 

toots, which, pressed to the shore, lb overhead and settle again 

in the water behind tin 1 line. The punts are then put about, and 



ITALY 



229 




COUNT SCHEIBLER 
(Author of ihe Article) 



2 3 



SPORT IN EUROPE 



the drive is repeated from the other side. The more fortunate 
guns succeed in getting a thousand shots in a day. At the last 
drive in which I took part. 2.200 coots fell to ten guns. I he 
perfect management of the drives, as well as the well-known 
hospitality of the Puke and Duchess towards their guests, renders 
the trips to Fogliano very enjoyable in every respect. 

[I.— FISHING 

As to the sport of fishing, it may be said to have no existence 
in Italy, save for the trout caught in the mountain torrents. Italian 
law allows every citizen to use the hook, ami this in great measure 
discourages the advancement ol fish-breeding. 

III.— DOGS 

At the beginning of the century dog-breeding, like so main other 
things, was very imperfectly understood, or at anj ran- was carried 
on so irrationally that the older breeds had deteriorated by injudicious 
crosses. More recently, however, there has come an awakening, 
which gives some hope tor the future. The two old types "I Italian 
dogs are the bracco and spinone. There are now societies (under 
the Italian Kennel Club) tor the purpose of restoring these breeds, 
and they will probably attain valuable results before long. The 
old Italian bracco has exceptional gifts, particularly lor shooting in 
the marshes; the head is powerful, the ears and muzzle long, the 
lips large and pendulous; the hones are massive, the body heavily 
built; the scent is wonderful, and the set admirable. It is a most 



ITALY 



231 



serviceable clog, although it keeps close when searching. It takes 
readily to the water, soon learns to retrieve, and is most tractable. 

The spinone, with long and shaggy coat, is stronger and capable 
of harder work, and plunges more readily into thick undergrowth, 
feels the cold of winter less keenly, swims well, and searches his 




SPINONE 
(From the Italian Kennel Club Book) 



game in untiring fashion ; so that he is also most serviceable to the 
sportsman, though his scent is duller. Another typical Italian dog 
is the segugio, a sort of beagle ; its coat black -and -tan and white. 
There are two varieties ; one is smooth-coated, the other rough. 
It is used, in packs of three or four couple, to hunt the hare ; and 



232 SPORT IN EUROPE 

it has an extraordinary nose, able to find a scent of the early morn- 
ing, or even of the night before, to mark its direction and t<> follow 
it up. It is able to strike a track of the preceding evening, to follow 
it, giving a lot of tongue, even for a whole claw and until it kills 
the hare. When the sport is on foot, the sportsman, in order to 
get a shot, has long runs to follow the hounds and to reach the 
likely places where the hare will pass. Hunting with the segugio 
affords capital sport in the Italian Alps, and is a favourite diversion 
of local sportsmen. 




BRACCO 
(From the Italian Kennel Club Hook) 



ITALY 



233 




THE MARQUIS L. DI ROCCAGIOVINE 
(Master of the Roman Foxhounds) 



**£!&— HUNTING 

Towards the end of last century, when Italy was less under culti- 
vation, and the nobles resided more at their castles, hunting with 
hounds was in common vogue all over the peninsula ; but the sport 
was completely dropped in the beginning of this century, and the 
breed of dogs employed for the purpose has now died out. In 1S40 
Lord Chesterfield was the first to bring out to Rome a pack of 
English foxhounds, and he then started fox-hunting in the Roman 
Campagna. From that time to this, with a few brief intervals, 
this sport has flourished in the vicinity of Rome. The soft climate. 



•34 



SPORT IN EUROPK 



the rare beauty of the- Roman Campagna, the sporting nature ol 

the fences —posts and rails and stone walls and all the fascina 
tion exercised by the proximity of the eternal city these make 
Rome most suitable as a continental centre of hunting. 



1 


1 


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'V- 

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S *m 


1 

LHOchatl-Sbli* 1 
Roma 



I HE ( 0UN7 r. VISCON II Dl Ml I] 
(Mastei of ths Roman Staghounds) 



The Campagna, with its wondrous contrasts, allures and interests 
one as perhaps no other spot on earth. With its ruins and aqu< ducts, 
wonderful relics of the ancient Roman State, it also offers pasture 
lands as far as eye can roam, frequented only by wandering shepherds, 
whose strange clothing recalls the primitive folk ol the western states 



ITALY 



2 35 



of America. It remains to be said that the favourite meet of the 
foxhounds is close to the tomb of Cecilia Metella, on the old Appian 
Road, where a fox is often found in the catacombs, or a wall has to 
be jumped under the arch of some ancient aqueduct. The posts 




IN THE CAMPAGNA ROMANA 
(Maccric, or Stone Walls) 



and rails (staccionati) erected to keep the cattle from straying, solid 
and of chestnut wood, form obstacles not only strong, but also 
difficult for the horses to judge ; so that really good hunters are 
needed to negotiate them. Roman hunting men have a preference 
for Irish hunters. The present Master is the Marquis of Rocca- 
giovine, who deserves great credit for the sporting way in which 



2 3 6 



SPORT IN EUROPE 



he has conducted affairs for several years, causing general satisfaction. 
There are in Italy two other packs of staghounds ; the < >n<- at 
Bologna, hunted by Count Antonio Fucchini, and the other at 
Milan, founded in [882 by myself, who was Master for eight years. 




THE CASTLE OF BRACCIANO 
(The property of Prince Odescalchi) 



Prince Odescalchi and I succeeded, in the beginning of |anuar\ of 
last year, in inducing the present Master to take his hounds to Koine, 
in order to hunt the stag twice a week close to Bracciano, where 
the Prince has a most picturesque old castle on the shores of tin- 
lake of the same name. It lies in a good galloping country, verj 
wild in some parts, and perfectly suited to such sport. The present 



ITALY 



•37 



Master is Duke Uberto Visconti di Modrone, a first-class horseman, 
who spares no pains to show sport. 

On hunting days special trains take the sportsmen and their 
hunters in an hour from Rome to Bracciano. 

As the Roman country is a centre of horse breeding, it is easy 
to hire horses, which, if not of high quality, at any rate know the 
country. It is beyond a doubt that the winter hunting season at 
Rome is destined to get more and more important, as it is finally- 
settled that we shall always have four days a week. 




IN THE CAUPAGNA ROMANA 

(Staccionati, or Posts and Rails) 



PORTUGAL 



NM 



>< 




WILD BOAR 



,*•*„<• .'41 








PALACE OF VILLA VICOSA 
(After a Water-colour Painting by Casanova) 



PORTUGAL 

By THE '-CtfOUNT D'ARNOSO 



I" N Portugal there are really no game laws. The Civil Code. 

*- Article 334, merely establishes the right of shooting by authorising 
Administrative Corporations to make regulations refer- 
ring to the shootino- season. Thus the close season 



Close 
Seasons. 



varies in the different provinces, often in the different 

districts of the same province, and even in the parishes ol the same 

district. 

In Lisbon the close season extends from the 1st of March to the 
R 241 



242 SPORT IN EUROPE 

15th of August. Anyone shooting during this period is liable t" fines 
established by law. It is, however, onlj recently, and principally as ,1 
result of the recent formation <>l different shooting clubs, that these 

lines have been enforced, and game has consequent^ been better 
protected. Not many years ago, during the close season, game ol all 
kinds was exposed lor sale in the Praca da Figueira, the principal 
market of Lisbon. 

Game in Portugal, according to the Civil Law, Article 334, belongs 
exclusively to the owners of the land, il the propert) lie enclosed; 
and, as such properties are very rare, this suffices to show that no one 
takes any interest in the breeding and protection ol game, and ion 
sequently those ereat bags so common in other countries can never 
be obtained in Portugal. 

Every Portuguese, from the simple peasant (oftener than not 
armed with one of those antiquated guns of tin- beginning of the 
century) to the proprietor of the land, is as a rule a sportsman. As 
a gun licence costs very little,* and in many places is not even 
enforced, everybody in Portugal shoots. Thus shqgting, a favourite 
sport of the Portuguese, far from being an appanage ^i tin- noble 
and wealthy classes, is within the reach of all. 

In order that this article may Ik- as nearly complete 

Sport in the .. , ... , , . . . 

„ ,n , as possible. 1 will describe nrst the shuotmu! ol large 

Royal Parks. ' 

game, and then that of small game. As II.M. the 

* The {,'un licence is established by the edict of 25th 1 »c tober, 1836. I he Civil Code 1 onfers 
authority upon the magistrates and governors of districts to grant shooting lit en< es. I he t.i\ F01 
shooting is 2-500 mils, (between 7J. and 8j.) pei annum, other expenses vary from is. to ;>.: say 
.1 total hi from 91 to 135. according to the distrii I where the Ii< em e is granted. The lio 
valid for the whole country, must be granted in the district where the applicant resides. 



PORTUGAL 243 

King, D. Carlos I., is the first sportsman, as well as the best shot 
of his kingdom, I will first mention the shooting of large game in 
the royal parks. At Mafra and Villa Vicosa, in enclosed parks 
many hundreds of acres in extent,* His Majesty hunts red deer 
(veodas) and fallow deer (gamos). 

In these parks, where there is an abundance of game, the deer, 
frightened by the shouts of the drivers and the barking of a few 

dogs which they take with them, are driven towards the 

. Deer- 

guns, who stand in the passes (poi'tas) through which the 

game passes very rapidly and generally in herds. Firing under such 
conditions is very difficult; however, His Majesty the King scores his 
right and left with the oreatest ease in these drives. On account of 
the unevenness of the ground and the wildness of the dense under- 
growth at Mafra, and the quantity of trees at Villa Vicosa, hunting is 
impossible in either of these parks. 

Wild boars (J avail) still existed in the Mafra Park during the 
lifetime of His Majesty's father, D. Luiz, by whose orders they were 

exterminated. Others, which' were turned into the park 

. : . wild Boar- 
last year by order of His Majesty the King, will, within 

two or three years, be ready for the chase. The hunts at Villa. Vicosa 
and Mafra, to which His Majesty invites every year the best sports- 
men of the Portuguese Court, and sometimes the foreign attaches, are 
very much appreciated. In these parks there is a great quantity of 
ground and winged game, about which I will say more later on. 

Besides these royal parks there are two private ones, in which red 

* The park at Villa Vicosa contains 3,211 acres, that of Mafra 2,932 acres, Alfcitc 716 
acres, Queluz 405 acres, and Ajuda 269 acres. 



244 



SPORT IN EUROPE 




II. M. DON CARLu.- I 
(National Dress of the Province of Alemtejo) 



PORTUGAL 245 

deer and fallow deer are shot : that of Torre Bella, near Azambuja, 

belonging to Snr. D. Caetano de Braganca, and that 

of Azinhal, near Evora, belonaing- to Snr. Francisco „ , 

& & Parks. 

Barahona. Both these parks have herds of deer, which 

have sprung from some presented by His Majesty D. Carlos. Red 

and fallow deer are still found and shot by the same system of driving 

on the unenclosed lands at Pancas, Serra de Ficalho, Serra de Penha 

Garcia, and Monfortinho. 

Wild boar are still found on several serras of the country. With 

H.M. the Kino- I have shot them at Outeiroes, some leagues 

from Alvito, in S. Suzana, in Palma, and in the 

Wild Boar. 
neighbourhood of Monforte. Drivers accompanied 

by small packs of hounds drive the game towards the passes, near 

which the sportsmen wait. In the time of old Mira, a sportsman 

of great fame throughout Alemtejo (who so carried his passion for 

hunting to the very extreme of his life, that even when old and 

paralysed he got up and directed a hunt in honour of H.M.D. 

Luiz I., in which we took*rjart, and to which he had to be driven 

lying down in his Alemtejano cart), two packs of hounds, one 

belonging to the Morgado of Alcacovas and the other to 

Snrs. Cabraes, were perfect, and it was a pleasure to see how the 

dogs obeyed the whippers-in, who, mounted on their small horses, 

flourished the long whips with which they kept in order the thirty 

or forty good dogs composing each pack. At the death of these 

sportsmen, the packs disappeared, and at present wild boar are chased 

with but four or five hounds, that, by their continual barking, start the 

boar and then pursue him. Snr. Jacintho Paes Falcao, a rich pro- 



246 



SPORT IN EUROPE 



prietor of Alemtejo, is a praiseworthy exception to "the rule," as he 
only chases the boar with dogs, and never shoots one. 

While out one day with his hounds {podengos) rabbit shooting, 




SI \"k I U IN 111' I PAES 1 VLCAO 



PORTUGAL 



247 




PODENGOS 
(Belonging to Seiior Jacintho Paes Falcao) 



they came across a wild boar and chased it. He thereupon gave 
up rabbit shooting, and, after increasing and improving his pack, 
has hunted the wild boar for many years. After being chased 
tor some hours, the boar, driven to bay, sits on its haunches and 
defends itself by quickly moving its head from side to side. Then 
Snr. J. P. Falcao dismounts, and, with his hunting-knife unsheathed, 



2 4 8 



SPORT IN EUROPE 




PODENGOS 
(Belonging to Seftor Jacintho Pae- [ 



PORTUGAL 249 

approaches the wild boar from behind, jumps upon it, grips with 
his knees, as in a vice, the flanks of the animal, and, while grasping 
with his left hand the thick mane on the creature's chine, plunges, 
with his right hand, the knife into the animal's body behind the 
right shoulder-blade, between the first and second ribs, killing it almost 
instantaneously. This he does, with such courage, dexterity, and 
accuracy, that never has a wild boar hunted by his pack escaped 
him ; and he has never once, in. these deadly struggles, suffered 
the least injury, though his hounds have at times been fearfully 
wounded. 

These podengos, far from common in the peninsula and com- 
pletely unknown in the rest of Europe, are beautiful dogs, not unlike 

Arabian dogs, the best being of one colour only, 

Podengos. 

large-bodied, very swift, with a head like a wolf's, with 

a sharp muzzle, bright eyes, ears erect — large at the base and tapering 
to a point — a slightly arched back, tail raised in the form of a sickle, 
loins and legs very strong so that they can easily jump through high 
and dense undergrowth. ''The chest, though not so low as that of 
the greyhound, is still sufficiently low (as they are much more ener- 
getic) to enable them to compete advantageously with it in short 
runs and on rough ground. Admirable clogs they are, full of good 
qualities, of excellent hearing" and sight, scenting at a great distance, 
and working" courageously through the thickest undergrowth. 

This manner of hunting with podengos has been so long in vogue, 
that our friend the Count of Ficalho remembers having heard his 
father speak about the celebrated Malhadeiro da Neta,* with whom, 

* A Malhadeiro is the proprietor of a small house in the midst of a wild region. 



250 SPORT IN EUROPE 

in the serras oi Serpa a\m\ Ficalho that adjoin the count) of Nievra 

in Spain, and in the serras of AnVhe and Araccna, he used to limit 

the wild boar with his leash of three podengos. After having watched 

attentively the boars from some elevation, the Malhadeiro da Neta 

fixed some small bells on the collars of the hounds, let them loose, and 

then they, serving as beaters, drove the wild boars to the place where 

he was waiting to shoot them. These same podengos, without the 

bells, would chase rabbits as if they had been trained for that sport 

only ; but as soon as they heard the sound of the bells, they would 

begin to hunt the wild boar without troubling about any rabbits that 

they might put up. 

In the north of the country, in Gerez, the ibex {Cobra bravo) 

is still stalked, as is also the roe (Cabrito), which the people of that 

region still insist on calling the "red deer." For hunting 

„ the roe, drivers, accompanied by a few dogs, arc used. 

Roe. ' 

The shooters wait at the places which the game will 
most probably pass. The ibex, which for a long time was thought t<> 
be a new species, is stalked in a very curious and picturesque manner. 
The sportsmen, with the exception of six, place themselves in ambush 
near the spot where the drive is to take place. Of these six, four join 
the drivers, the other two remaining at a distance on an elevated spot 
to serve as watchers. In driving the ibex, dogs are not used. The 
two watchers start the ibex by throwing, small stones. The drivers, 
walking along slowly, gradually converge, and. it they discover on 
the ground any vestige of the animal, whistle twice, and three times 
if they see the animal itself, to let the hunters know. As sunn as the 
ibex enters the circle of the beaters, the hunters, hiding themselves, 



PORTUGAL 



251 




H.M. DON CARLOS I. 
(National Dress of the Province of Alemtejo) 



252 SPORT IN EUROPE 

all speak at the same time. The ibex hearing the noise, with ears 
erect, jumps upon the great granite rocks, and, ever alert, slowly walks 
along tlie edge of the crags. Then it is that the sportsmen who are 
nearest see it and can get an easy shot. 

After describing a wolf hunt (lobo), there will remain nothing more 
to be said about the hunting of large game in Portugal ; tor if, as often 
happens during these hunts, there appear foxes [raposas), lynxes, 
which are common in Alemtejo, or wild cats [Gat OS bravos), these are 
not specially hunted, but, when put up by the drivers, the sportsmen 
shoot them. 

WOlf hunting is very interesting. When these animals infest am 

district and destroy the cattle, the inhabitants of several parishes and 

villages around organise a hunt which extends for main 
Wolves. 

leagues. As a rule Sunday is selected, so that a greater 

number of people may take part in the hunt. All armed, the) form a 

large circle, covering a great extent of ground. The circle gradual!) 

contracts. The proprietors of the land and the best shots wait at the 

point on which the circle will converge, and where the drive will there 

tort- terminate. Occasionally, onl) alter some hours' driving, is then 

heard an indistinct and distant noise, which, gradually and slowl) 

increasing as the driving approaches, when close at hand becomes 

deafening. Any small game that may appear is shot onl) when the 

drive is near its end. Then the firing is tremendous, shots crossing 

in every direction, the noise of which, in conjunction with the shouting 

ot the hunters, gives one the idea of a fierce battle. As the small 

game, which is thus collected from a great distance, is very abundant. 

the men lose their heads, and these hunts at times become realh 



PORTUGAL 253 

dangerous. With His Majesty I once took part in one, and it seemed 
as if we, instead of taking part in a simple hunt, were the victims of 
a tremendous attack. And yet these hundreds of men that surrounded 
us, while shooting, some in the direction of our feet, others almost 
at our heads, and trying to kill foxes, rabbits, or partridges, all 
shouted enthusiastically, " Long live our King ! " "Viva itosso Rei! " 
Small game, considering" the circumstances mentioned at the be- 
ginning of this article, may be said to be abundant, as all over the 
country we find the red-legged partridge (Perdiz vervielhd) ; the grey 
partridge {Perdiz par da) is found in only some parts of Portugal, 
Marao, Gerez, Serra de Portalegre, etc. ; and rabbits (coe/ho) and 
hares {lebre) are shot everywhere. In the royal parks of Mafra and 
Villa Vicosa, H.M. the King shoots partridges in drives, and, as the 

waiting-places (esperas) are generally at the bottom of 

& F v / / a j Partridges. 

valleys, and as the birds always fly as swiftly as arrows 

towards the guns and at a great height, these shots — in which His 
Majesty is unrivalled — are very difficult. In unenclosed lands, part- 
ridges are shot over greyhounds, of which there is a very good breed 
in Portugal. 

More than once I have been out shooting with a priest living near 
the house of Pindella. He had a dog which he had taught to tell by 
the movement of its muzzle the exact number of partridges that it 
saw before it. A splendid dog! In the vineyards of the mountainous 
province of Douro there are many partridges and also excellent sports- 
men, but the place where the birds most abound is Beira Alta ; there, 
in some regions, for example near Mangualde, dogs are not required, 
as the birds are so plentiful that they rise at the sportsman's feet. 



254 



SPORT IN EUROPE 




PALACE OF MAI KA 



In rabbit-shooting, dogs are always used, even in the royal parks. 

not only at Mafra and Villa Vigosa, but at Queluz, Alfeite and 

Ajuda, where rabbits are very plentiful. This sport is very amusing, 

as the pointers run the rabbits so close, often even 
Rabbits. 

snapping them, that it is very difficult to shoot them 

without wounding the dogs. The marvellous quickness of His 

Majesty the King in these shots is proverbial. 

The podengos of Alemtejo are so well trained that, on approaching 

a wood, only the one to which the owner makes a sign will enter; 



PORTUGAL 



255 



the others, with their ears pointed, wait to seize the rabbits when 

they come out. On unenclosed land the ferret is used to drive them 

out of their burrows. Professional "sportsmen," who live by the 

sale of game, often catch rabbits by placing nets at the mouth of 

their burrows. 

Hares are generally shot, with the exception of those found in 

the Lezirias of the Tejo, where they are abundant, and in Idanha, 

district of Castello Branco. The Minho, although 

Hares. 

mountainous, is an exception to this rule, there still 

being some proprietors who keep greyhounds and course the hare. 
Even in my time there still existed in that province the hare- 
finder (lebreiro), who lived exclusively by finding out the forms of 
hares. 

The hunting of hares in the Lezirias and in the Sapal do Tejo, 
for which small, but very fleet, horses are used {cavallos dos campinos), 

is certainly the best sport that is to be found at present 

Hare-hunting, 
in Portugal. General Oueiroz, aide-de-camp of His 

Majesty, and a great loveV.'of this kind of sport, possesses several 

beautiful leashes of greyhounds, some of English breed,* given by 

the King, with which he hunts. Although sixty years of age, a 

week rarely passes without his going with his greyhounds and swiit 

country horses to the Lezirias to hunt hares. Lately the breed 

of greyhounds has been much improved by crosses between good 

English and French breeds. In Idanha, where the Marquis of 

Graciosa and Dr. Paulo Cancella principally hunt, the hounds of 

* There is no import duty on dogs ; a small sum (100 reis = 3id.) is paid on each dog 
passing through the Custom House. 



256 



SPORT IN EUROPE 



the house of Graciosa are much esteemed. It is very common 
there In one day's coursing to kill fifteen or twenty hans. 






*K, 




AFTER yUAlL 



Quail. 



In the Lezirias do Tejo and Sado, and in the country near 
Estarreja, large quantities of quail (codomiz) art- shot 
at the end of April and the month of May; and again, 
iri the months of August and September a good gun can bag in one 
day from eighty to a hundred quail. 

His Majesty the King shoots the quail so quickly that he kills 
them at a short distance from the muzzle ol the dog that points 
them. My friend I ). Fernando Manoel Atalaya, a great sportsman, 
much devoted to shooting quail, always waits a moment when a cock 
and hen rise until they cross, and then fires and kills diem with one 



PORTUGAL 257 

shot. This he does with the greatest accuracy. He devotes great 

attention to his dogs, ever trying to improve the breed. His nephew 

Fernando, like his uncle, is an excellent sportsman. Strange to say, 

quail remain all the winter in some parts of the country, principally in 

the Alemtejo. 

Bustards (batardas) are abundant in some parts of the Alemtejo ; 

they are either driven to the guns, or else the sportsmen 

Bustard, 
go in Alemtejano carts, covered with herbage, and drawn 

by mules. This is the most successful method, as the bustards, which 

are very shy, can thus be approached. 

Grey plover (algareivoes) and lesser bustards (cisoes) are also 
driven, and green plover are shot when they rise on the wing. 

Birds of prey, such as the eagle (agtiia), vulture (abutre), hawk 

iyfalcao), etc., abound everywhere, but are not shot in 

Eagles, etc. 
any special manner. The woods in the acorn season 

are infested by flocks of pigeons (pombo), which do immense damage, 

the proprietors often letting off rockets to drive them away. 

At this season pigeon-shooting is very interesting, as decoy birds 

are placed in the cork trees, while the sportsmen hide 

Pigeons. 
themselves in bowers formed of branches around the 

trees. On the Tagus, in Paul de Mugem, near Salvaterra dos Magos, 

at the mouth of the Aveiro, in the lagoons dAlbufeira, lagoons 

d'El-Rei, of Obidos, St. Andre de Melides, there is splendid winter 

shooting of ducks (patos reaes), geese (gansos), wigeon 

Wild Fowl. 
(patos marrecos), whistling -ducks (assobiadeiras), coots 

(gal/eiroes), dab-chicks (negrinkas), and trumpeters {trombeteiros). 

On the Tagus these birds are principally shot early in the morning 



258 SPORT IN EUROPE 

and at sunset, decoy birds being used. On the lagoons, the sports 
men, each in his punt, go in a line along the lagoons. It is very 
difficult to shoot wild geese on account of the great height at which 
they fly. 

As the fishing in the Paul de Mugem, which is more than two 
leagues long and very abundant in game, is rented to tin- Atalaya 
On the family, only the tenants can shoot there. The sports 

Lagoons and man, with one boatman, seated in a narrow, slender, 
flat-bottomed punt, avoiding the water-plants, glides 
along the narrow channels which are formed in summer, and shoots 
the game as it rises. 

In November, with the first cold weather, woodcock (gallinkold) 
appear, and, soon after, snipe (narsejd). In the royal 

WoodcOCk 1 r at ,- 1 -i 1 

. c. . park 01 Alatra, more than once, ei!/nt gains, without 

and Snipe. i ° ° 

drivers, have killed in one day a hundred woodcock. 
I must, however, say that one of these guns was His Majesty's. 

In unenclosed lands woodcock and snipe are always shot over 
dogs. The shooting of snipe at the mouth of die Aveiro, Ovar, 
Sado, and in the Apostica, an estate of the Duque de l'almella, 
some thirty kilometres from Almada, is very famous. Ami what 
so much astonishes foreigners in these shooting excursions is that 
they take place under a radiant sun and a pure azure sky. 

I must now mention the migration of doves [rollas), which on 

days of north-east winds, at the end of August or the 
Turtle doves. 

beginning of September, takes place along the whole 

coast of Portugal. Doves pass in (locks, in such numbers that the) 
appear like clouds over the heads of the shooters. 



PORTUGAL 



259 




COUNT D'ARNOSO 
(Writer of the Article 



260 SPORT IN EUROPE 

In writing about game in Portugal it would be an unpardonable 
omission not to mention the names nl Edward Montufar Barreiros, 
Visconde d'Athouguia, and J. Baptista Fernandes, who as sportsmen 

and shots arc equal to the best to be found anywhere-. The modesty 
of these, our friends, would be satisfied, but not so our conscience. 
Although Portugal is a country so richly endowed with rivers, 

streams, and streamlets, all rich in fish, from the salmon ol the 

Minho and Lima to the trout of all the streams in 
Fishing. 

the north, the number ol fishermen is so limited 

that we can truly say this sport does not exist in Portugal. If 
we count the amateur fishermen, we are certain the number would 
not, even including those who fish in the ocean along our coast so 
rich in fish of every kind, reach a hundred. On the coast, for three 
years, His Majesty the King 1). Carlos has, for purely scientific 
purposes, undertaken during the summer months oceanographic 
expeditions, the useful scientific results of which are given in the 
most lucid reports which I lis Majesty publishes every year. 



ROUMANIA 



■'v- 



--M 




GREAT BUSTARD 




PAKTKII".! 



i 



ROUMANIA 

By PRINCE NICOLAS GHIKA 

pHE chase, the only national sport of Roumania, alone retains 
-*■ those original characteristics that the invasion of Western 
notions and customs has banished from so much of the national life. 
Even the recent popularity of horse-racing, under the auspices of 
the Bucharest Jockey Club, must be held directly responsible for 
the disappearance of the once famous breeds of native horses in 
favour of French and English thoroughbreds. It is, however, with 
the chase alone that this article is to deal ; and my account of the 
country's shooting will be cpnveniently divided under three heads, 
an arrangement facilitated by its geographical configuration. 

I.— SHOOTING IN THE MOUNTAINS 

The sportsman may find on the eastern slopes of the Carpathians, 

amid the forests of fir and beech that flourish in that range, bear, 

boar, wolf, lynx and wild cat, fox, badger, marten, roedeer ; and at 

a lower level, hares and partridges. Up in the vast northern forests 

of the Trotus and Bistrizza valleys he should also encounter stags, 

but these are replaced in the steeper and more broken mountains of 

263 



264 



SPORT IN EUROPE 



the south by the chamois. These northern and southern districts 
have, moreover, their distinct and characteristic methods 

Northern and of shooting, which are easily explained. The landed 

Southern . c , , , f ■ 

_ . proprietors ot the north pass the greater portion ol the 

Game and L ' r ■ 

Methods. year on their estates, learning intimately the habits of 

the game and taking the keenest interest in protecting 

it against vermin and poachers. Two results have, as might be ex- 
pected, attended this energetic suppression of poaching : the peasants 




KEEPER'S LODGE (COMANESTI, CARPATHIANS) 



are but indifferent chasseurs; and, particularly since the passing of 
the new game laws by the Roumanian Parliament, the game has 
appreciably and steadily increased. 

Vastly different are the conditions that obtain in the southern 



ROUMANIA 265 

districts, where the estates are managed by tenant farmers or by 

peasant proprietors, with the result that the game laws are a dead 

letter, and everyone hunts without restraint, killing every creature, 

irrespective of age or sex or season. The few that escape such 

persecution are then harassed without interval, all the year round, 

by packs of ill-trained hounds. 

Sportsmen in the mountains kill their game in either of three ways : 

by lying in ambush, with beaters, or with dogs. The first of these 

methods is the favourite with those who hunt the bear in spring, 

when the animal has left his winter quarters after the 

melting of the snows to feed on the young- nettles that „, .. 

ft J ° Shooting. 

at that season sprout on the sunny slopes. A know- 
ledge of the bear's food and manner of feeding at each season is in 
fact essential to the sportsman. A little later, in June, the brute 
takes to a meat diet, slaying all manner of smaller animals, and 
it is then that the sportsman may with success post himself next 
evening just to leeward of the kill, silent of course and well hidden. 
The greatest care must be taken not to disturb the carcase. In those 
cases in which, as sometimes happens, the bear does not put in an 
appearance until a late hour, I fancy a powerful magnesium lamp 
might be turned on him suddenly with excellent effect.* In July, 
when raspberries come in season, he again turns vegetarian, and 
may be shot by anyone .who will hide in suitable spots where there 
is abundance of this fruit. Mulberries and wild apples consti- 
tute the bear's food in the month of September ; and when, in 

* In his recently-published account of expeditions after big game in Central Africa, 
Monsieur Foa gives some particulars of the successful use of such a night lamp.- -El). 



266 SPORT IN EUROPE 

October and November, he repairs to the oak forests for a course of 
acorns, he is hunted by battues, the guns being posted amid the 
undergrowth in the thickest part of the wood. The maize fields 
also suffer terribly from his visits, but, as soon as winter sets in in 
earnest, he seeks the shelter of some cavern or hollow tree, that 
he has previously lined and carpeted with dry leaves, and there 
slumbers throughout January and February without taking any 
manner of food. Out of such retreats he is sometimes smoked, 
being shot as he emerges; and this mode of getting a bear is both 
difficult and dangerous, for the nature of the country is usually in 
his favour, and he is also, if wounded, more likely to attack than .it 
any other season. 

On the whole, however, bear-huntino\ while not free from occasional 
fatalities, is a far less dangerous sport than is popularly imagined, 
the bear being, as a rule, only too anxious to make good his escape. 
The very best weapon for the work, which is, for that matter, equally 
suitable for the other big game of the Carpathians, is a double 
500 Express. 

The stag has of late years become extremely rare, and can only 
indeed be regarded as resident on half a dozen of the largest estates. 

where it is rigidly preserved. Ouite recently, it is true, 
The Stag. , . 

its numbers have again somewhat increased, but un- 
fortunately, instead of contenting themselves with stalking it in 
September, the rutting season, or driving it a month later, native 
sportsmen frequently hunt it with hounds, which scare it for good 
from all its favourite haunts. This Roumanian stag ^rnws to a 
■'Teat size, now and then rivalling in weight, as well as in length of 



ROUMANIA 267 

antlers, the finest stags of Hungary. So powerful an animal has no 
fear of wolves, but lynxes are among its most dreaded foes. 

Wild boars are also abundant and of great size, but so uncertain 
are they in their movements from one day to another, that the sports- 
man never knows where they may be found on the 

Wild Boar. 
morrow. They are in the habit of quitting their 

native forests on autumn evenings to ravage the maize crops, and 

may then be shot with the aid of beaters. The bag, however, is 

always uncertain, for it not unfrequently happens that they dash back 

through the line and escape to a great distance. 

Wolves are also found all over the country, and do the greatest 

damage to livestock and game. They are shot in autumn with 

beaters, the most likely spots, as for bear, being in the 

Wolf, 
dense thicket. In winter, on the other hand, the 

practice is to lie in ambush near a carcase, or near a young pig 

tethered and pinched by the ear to make it squeak. Very warily, 

and with mincing steps, the wolf nears its victim, constantly sniffing 

the air, for which reason the' sportsman will run less risk of being 

scented if posted in a tree. It need hardly be said, however, that 

wolf-shooting is in any form devoid of danger. 

Both the lynx and wild cat are trapped, not shot. It is exceedingly 

rare for the beaters to put up either of these beasts, for at the first 

suspicion of danger they clamber up a tree and there 
. . ... Lynx and 

lie motionless and invisible along one of the stoutest wild Cat. 

branches. 

There is nothing remarkable in the local methods of shooting either 

hare, fox, or roecleer, though it may, perhaps, be noted that the last- 



268 SPORT IN EUROPE 

named is of great size, resembling the rue ol Siberia rather than 

those of France and Germany. In no case, however, have the 

horns more than the usual three points. Lynxes kill 
Roedeer. 

numbers of roedeer at all seasons, while wolves molest 

them in winter only, when the snow lies deep and is covered with 

a thin film of ice. 

The capercailzie and grouse arc scarce and very hard to shoot. 

The former, which occurs only in the higher ranges, is stalked after 

the spring thaws ; the latter, which is met with in the 
Game Birds. 

lower hills, is shot in autumn over dogs. The hazel- 
hen has a wide range in the country, and is shot with the aid of 
a peculiar whistle that imitates the call of either male or female, 
according as it is desired to attract the opposite sex. A single 
false note would spoil the whole performance, but the instrument, 
skilfully handled, is so irresistible that many sportsmen regard the 
shot as too easy, and content themselves with letting the bird fly 
away unscathed after they have sufficiently amused themselves with 
its puzzled search after a mate at their very feet. Five years 
ago the pheasant was unknown in Roumania, but to-day we 
find the ordinary Bohemian and Mongolian pheasant naturalised 

on the estates of Floristi and Comanesti, ami thriving 

Introduction , . , , » T , . , , , 

. _, admirably. JNo such success, however, has attended a 

of Pheasants' J 

similar effort to acclimatise Reeves' pheasant, but the 
other species have been imported from Austria anil turned down in 
suitable localities. The owners feed them in winter with maize and 
buckwheat, and extra hens are turned down in the spring. There 
seems to have been no occasion tor artificial rearing, as the natural 



ROUMANIA 269 

increase in numbers has so far been perfectly satisfactory, more 

particularly in some of the dense whitethorn plantations that cover 

the alluvial lands beside the rivers. These dense patches of thorn 

likewise shelter partridges, though they have all but 

Partridges. 
vanished from the rest of the country. The best 

remaining partridge country is the Dobrutcha, not far from the 

Bulgarian frontier. In some districts, from which the indigenous 

partridge had vanished, attempts were made to fill its place with 

birds imported from Austria, but these efforts have not up to the 

present been crowned with success. 



II.— SHOOTING IN THE PLAINS 

The plains of Roumania furnish bustard, lesser bustard, quail, 

landrail and woodcock. The bustard is found in considerable 

numbers in the vast plains of the east and south. The 

bird's instinct bids it keep carefully to oreat, Hat, open _. ■. 

5*\\ } & r Shooting. 

spaces, unbroken by any hflTbr tree that might conceal 
an enemy, and so keen is its vision that it would be impossible to 
approach it without being detected. Under these circumstances the 
sportsman goes to the other extreme, not only making no attempt 
to hide, but on the contrary, showing himself carelessly to the bird 
he is stalking as if unaware of its presence. The most successful 
method is to employ one of the native carts with thatched roof, and 
to drive slowly beside the ploughed fields, like some farmer inspecting 
his land. Only, once within shot, it is necessary to pull up promptly 
and fire at once, for the bustard is a most suspicious bird and flies 



270 SPORT IN EUROPE 

off almost as soon as it perceives the cart at a standstill. As there 
is not the least chance of getting closer than 200 yards, if indeed 
as close, the best weapon is an accurate rille of small bore, the 303 
sporting Lee-Metford being, I fancy, unrivalled for such work. The 
mark is no easy one, and even the finest shots of my acquaintance 
reckon on four misses to every hit ; but bustards arc so plentiful that 
it is the sportsman's own fault if he returns without bringing several 
with him in the cart. Bustard shooting is at its best early in April, 
before the laying season, and while the corn is still short. It is 
then that the male bird is in splendid condition, weighing well over 
30 lbs., and having the face ornamented with a pair >>\ bristling 
moustaches that he presently, towards the end of April, will lose 
in fierce combat with his rivals. This bustard shooting has much 
to recommend it to foreigners visiting the country for sport, for the 
best localities are but three hours by rail from the capital, and 
peasants with carts are usually in waiting at the stations to attend 
the sportsman to the shooting grounds. These fellows have a 
wonderful knowledge of both the likely spots and the habits of the 
birds. Moreover, most of the best bustard country is in no \\.i\ 
preserved, and may consequently be shot over without previously 
obtaining permission. The birds are, however, protected by law 
throughout the summer, and should be sought in either April or 
October. There are times in winter when, a fall of rain being 
followed by a hard frost, they are unable to fly, and the country- 
folk formerly hunted them down in this helpless state on horse 
back or with greyhounds, but this wretched sport is now forbidden 
by law. 



ROUMANIA 



271 



Lesser bustard are, as a rule, put up and shot by those out after 
bustard, and are found in the spring in pairs, or in the autumn in 
greater numbers. By no means easy to distinguish — . 
on the ground, they do not, however, fly any great Lesser 
distance, and may in consequence be marked down as 
they alight, and shot as they rise. The lesser bustard is a handsome 
bird, about the size of a fowl, the back yellow, the breast white, 
head and wing-tips black ; and the male bird wears a black-and- 
white collar. 

The quail is the most widely-distributed game bird on the plains 
of Roumania, and is shot only over dogs, chiefly in the millet fields, 

or in the corn just after harvest. Iii o-ood years and 

J & 3 Quail. 

on well-chosen ground, the sportsman should have no 

great difficulty in bagging his' hundred birds in a day. For such 

sport, however, a good dog is wanted, one that can bear both heat 

and thirst, and English pointers have been found to give the best 

results. 

Some idea of the abundance of quail may be formed when I 
mention the fact that there are Englishmen who return home with 
barrels full of quail preserved by cooks whom they bring out with 
them for the purpose. 

The landrail, or " King of the Quails," is found in the wetter • 
portions of the plains, where it is sufficiently abundant. Its success- 
ful pursuit, however, demands the co-operation of an 

Landrail, 
active dog, as the bird will always run as long as 

possible, rising only as a last resource to escape the dog's jaws. It 
is when the hay is being cut and small patches only remain untouched 



272 SPORT IN EUROPE 

that landrails can he shut in quantity, as they arc then packed in a 

restricted space. When the grass is gone, the birds make for the 

maize fields, where they are exceedingly difficult to shoot. 

The woodcock gives, on the spring and autumn migrations, very 

pretty sport in the oak forests around Bucharest. The- Bird may 

either be driven or else stalked in the twilight a quarter 
Woodcock. 

of an hour after sundown. Nearly all the lust wood- 
cock ground is private, but permission is, as a rule, not difficult to 
obtain. The best passage of woodcocks, however, is in the north, 
in the vicinity of Jassy, where a party may often shoot their sixty 
to eighty birds a day. The migrants are on their way from Turkey 
to Russia, where they find huge forests suitable to quiet breeding ; 
but some stay to breed in the Carpathians, where they are hard 
to find. 

Hares were very plentiful in the plains twenty years ago, but 

coursing has all hut exterminated them. To-dav, how- 
Hares and i r 11 r i ii ii 
„ . , ., ever, the tolly ol such waste is realised, ami hares are 
Rabbits. J 

once more sensibly on the increase... Attempts have 
also been made on the part of certain landowners to establish rabbit 
warrens, but the rabbits have not proved equal to the climate, and 
have invariably succumbed in winter to cold and hunger. 



HI.— SHOOTING IX THE MARSHES 

There is, perhaps, no country in Europe with better marsh 

shooting than Roumania. Along the hanks of the Danube and in 
Dobrutcha there are hundreds of lakes and ponds, on which swans 



ROUMANIA 



2 73 



and pelicans and wild geese and ducks simply swarm, passing their 
lives there in ease, and rarely disturbed by the sight of a human 
being. The best shooting grounds, offering as they do no accommo- 
dation, are rarely visited by strangers, and the few residents are 
fishermen, who pick up a precarious livelihood and shoot only in 
the most primitive fashion. They make most useful guides, but as 
sportsmen they are a failure. For a successful shooting expedition 
in Dobrutcha, it would, I think, be necessary to have a small col- 
lapsible boat that could be carried from lake to lake in a 

cart, as well as a tent and camp bed. Custanja, on the Re( l uisites 

for an 
shores of the Black Sea, would be about the best head- Expedition. 

quarters, for there the sportsman would find good hotel 
accommodation, and could, moreover engage guides and hire carts. 
For such shooting three weapons are advisable : a duck gun of large 
calibre ; a smaller gun for shooting duck and snipe on the wing ; and 
a rifle for the swans and wild geese. The foreigner would find no 
difficulty in enjoying this sport, for the marshes are not preserved. 
He would find autumn the "best season. Of the many species of 
marsh-fowl I make no attempt to treat specifically. 

An excellent headquarters for a shooting expedition in the region 
of the Lower Danube would be found in Galatz, a night's rail from 
Bucharest. Small steam-launches can be hired there, and good guides 
could also be found who, although their knowledge of shooting- 
amounts to very little, are thoroughly acquainted with the country. 
Game is, however, so plentiful, that, if the sportsman only goes a 
fair distance up country, it is impossible not to make good bags. A 
warning must be offered as to keeping clear of the Russian bank of 



274 



SPORT IN EUROPH 



the Danube, for shooting is there prohibited t<> sportsmen coming 
from the Roumanian side. Another warning may be added in favour 
of purchasing at Galatz a mosquito curtain, for without it the sports 
man will suffer perfect martyrdom. 

So much, then, for the shooting of Roumania at the present day. 




Fishing. 



TROUT LAKE (DARMANEST1, CARPATHIANS) 
(Round this lake i- some of the linc^t stag country in Roumania) 

It is in truth the chiet sport. Fishing does not offer great attra< 
tions, the only game fish of the Carpathian rivers being 

the trout, and even that, being tor the most part either 
netted or taken on the worm, rises hut indifferently to the artificial 
fly. The rivers of the Danube region are, it is true, teeming with 
fish, for, in spite ol the low prices prevailing, both tin- State and the 
riparian owners derive considerable revenues from this source. 



ROUMANIA 



2 7S 



Their capture is, however, a matter of wholesale slaughter with 
nets, and has nothing in common with sport. 

Falconry, again, once in great vogue, has, as in so many other 
parts of Europe, altogether disappeared, though only 
of recent years, since there are many still living in 
the country who well recollect quail-hawking when young. 



Falconry. 





GAMEKEEPER (DARMAXESTI, CARPATHIANS) 



276 SPORT IN EUROPE 

It will, I think, be evident from what has gone before that 

Roumania presents a wide field for the visiting sportsman, and. 

if he be anything of a gentleman, all the landowners 

_ . will with alacrity place themselves at his disposal, 

Foreigners ' ■ 

giving him not only sport, but open hospitality, lb- 
should, however, be careful to direct himself at once to tin- largest 
landed proprietors of the neighbourhood, and to avoid enlisting tin- 
peasantry to procuring him the desired sport. With one animal, 
it is true, the foreigner will experience considerable difficulty unless 
he brings with him very strong introductions, and that is the great 
stag of the Carpathians, the extinction of which has been averted 
only with great trouble, so that the animal survives only, as already 
mentioned, on one or two of the finest estates. 

A word, in conclusion, on the subject of our sporting laws. No 
game licence is imposed, permission only being incessary- ami that 

only in some parts — from the owner of the land. Some 
Game Laws. 

years ago game laws were enacted so as to regulate 

(in tabular form) the seasons in which the various beasts and birds 

may be killed. Some few may be shot in the spring, but the regular 

shooting season may be said to last from August 15th to February 

15 th. 



SCANDINAVIA 



•:•• 



SCANDINAVIA 



By SIR HENRY POTTINGER 



Norway. 



^* CAN DIN AVI A, which for the purpose of this article may be 
^—^ held to mean Sweden and Norway, is a country naturally 
adapted for providing a vast and varied amount of 
wild sport. Taking Norway by itself, as being that 
portion of the peninsula which presents the grandest sporting char- 
acteristics, we find that even at the present day not more than two 
per cent, of its total area is 
under any kind of cultivation, 
and that the bulk of this per- 
centage is massed together ) in 
a few southern provinces ; that 
a fifth part of it is still covered 
with forests, and that the re- 
mainder consists of barren up- 
lands, gisrantic mountain ranges, 
and vast extents of glacier and 
snowfield, which, if they are 
nut in any marked degree conducive to sport, indicate at any rate 
the generally wild and unreclaimed character of the land and the 

glorious scenery which the sportsman penetrates in his wanderings. 

279 




BULL ELK (NORWAY) 
Eighteen Points 



a8o 



SPORT IN KUROI'K 



Sweden. 



In the recesses of the hills, moreover, lie absolutely countless lakes 

and tarns of all sizes, often teeming with fish : and from them descend 

the infant waters of the myriad rivers and streams which in their 

later course afford such gratification to the angler. 

Sweden lacks the lofty snow- and ice-clad summits, the precipitous 

mountain ranges, and deep gorges ol Norway. ( >nly in the province 
of Jemtland and in the far north on the confines « ► l 
Lapland is there some approach to this kind of scenery. 

But more than half the country is covered with rolling forests, barren 

moors and morasses, and thousands of lakes, great and small. In 

Southern and Central Sweden, 
however, lies a great area of 
level and cultivated land, di- 
versified with low hills and 
very extensive woodlands, and 
there, especially on the im- 
mense estates belonging to the 
Crown and the nobility, pre- 
servation of game, both big and 
small, is carried to a high 
degree. An attempt has been 
made to naturalise the wapiti 

(Cervus canadensis). Roedeer, which do not exist in Norway, an- 
on some estates tolerably abundant. In recent years 

Preservation c , . ... , ,.,,,. . , 

, G from forty to sixty elk have been killed m a single 

day's driving, and great bags of fur and feather secured. 

But this article does not propose to deal with spoil that is more 




BULL ELK (NORWAY) 
Tweniy-four Points 



SCANDINAVIA 281 

or less artificial, and of which the details, whatever be the kind of 
game bagged, have much the same features in all strictly preserved 
localities. 

Let us consider, then, what Scandinavia, and Norway in particular, 
can offer to the roving sportsman in the way of wild sport, and let 
us take the shooting first. 

To begin with, some statistics rerardinCT wild beasts and big 
game may not be out of place. Selecting 1896 as an average year 
of the last decade, we find that in that year rewards 

were paid by the Norwegian Government for the Statistics of 

, , , . , ■ „ Wild Beasts 

destruction of 44 bears, 90 wolves, 30 lynxes, and 64 . »». 

gluttons or wolverines (G21/0 borealis). In Sweden Game. 
rewards were registered for 75 bears, 116 wolves, 32 
lynxes, and 145 gluttons. In the same year the official return of 
big game killed in Norway gives us : 506 bull, and 485 cow elk — 
total 991 ; 942 wild reindeer, and 138 red deer. Wild reindeer are 
nowadays practically extinct in Sweden proper, but a few may still 
exist in Swedish Lapland.- The return of elk killed in Sweden used 
to be about double that of Norway, but has been of late years of 
little statistical value, inasmuch as the indiscriminate slaughter of 
these animals, bull, cow, and calf, permitted by the old law, neces- 
sitated fresh legislation, and for several years the time during which 
elk might be killed was limited to fourteen days of September. By 
still more recent enactments a close-time of three years' duration was 
established, and this expires in the present year. Moreover, whilst in 
Norway it is forbidden, under heavy penalties, to kill more than a 
single full-grown elk, bull or cow, on each "matriculated" farm 



282 ■ SPORT IN EUROPE 

or division of the land, as registered in the Government books, it 

was in Sweden permissible up tn recent times to shoot calves as 

well as adult beasts, and if the opportunity presented itself am 

number of elk might be killed on the same holding, however small. 

In considering the chase of the elk (A Ices machlis), the 
The Elk. 

monarch <>l the deer tribe, and the biggest game-beasl 

in Europe, we may dismiss driving with a very lew words. On a 

large scale it is possible only in the most strict!) preserved forests 

in Sweden. On a small scale it is sometimes attempted in Norway, 

under the name of Klap-jagt, by employing beaters, who tap the 

trees with axe-heads and sticks to move the elk out of deep gorges 

or unusually thick woodlands towards the shooter. 

In the pursuit of elk, a dog is habitually used, namely, the Arctic 

dog, originally the well-known companion and drudge ol the Lapp, 

the Samoyed, the Esquimaux, and the Chukche, which 

The Elk- , . , , , e . 

. has m the course o aeres spread trom the extreme 

dog. 5 ' 

north over the whole ol Scandinavia. Although much 
modified in appearance from the original Arctic tvpe. and showing 
considerable variety in size and colour, it still universally retains the 
chiel characteristics of its race, which constitutes the great canine 
population ol Scandinavia. Examples of it. for the most part utterl) 
useless in the field, are to be seen at every farmhouse throughout 
the peninsula. 

I he elk-dog is used either loose or in a leader. The dut) ol 

the loose dog is to range the forest, find the elk, and bring it to 
bay, or so far delay it. that the hunter, guided bj the music, ma) 
get up as best he can and obtain a shot. The leash-dog, on the 



SCANDINAVIA 



283 




El.K-HUNTERS AND ELK-DOO (LAPP AND NORWEGIAN) 



SCANDINAVIA 285 

contrary, is never loosed, but precedes the hunter in a long leader 

connected with a kind of chest harness, so constructed as not to 

impede the dog's breathing. The hunter always works up and 

across the wind, and utilises every rise in the ground to give the 

dog's nose a wider range. A really first-rate dog, which, by the way, 

whether for use in the leash or loose, is extremely difficult to procure, 

will catch the wind of elk or of fresh spoor from incredible distances, 

and begin to press quietly towards it. When the hunter 

finds the spoor, or realises from the more animated ^, _,, 
r the Elk. 

action of the dog that the elk in the flesh is not far 
off, then comes the time for his display of woodcraft. The deer 
being at last sighted, the actual stalk begins, and the services of the 
dog are no longer required. He should be trained to crawl beside 
the hunter, to crouch motionless, and to remain perfectly mute. A 
whole volume might be written about the many phases and niceties 
of elk hunting ; within the limits of an article it is not possible to do 
more than indicate the outlines of the sport. Both styles of hunting, 
with the loose and leash dog, have their ardent devotees. The 
former is really illegal in Norway, although locally practised ; in the 
immense rolling forests of Sweden it is universally adopted. These 
styles are equally exciting, although on totally different lines. But 
in either case, if the sportsman's efforts be crowned with complete 
success, he cannot be otherwise than intensely gratified, and possibly 
astounded, by the sight of his magnificent quarry. A bull elk of 
the first class will stand 6 feet and over at the withers, weigh from 
80 to 90 stone, and possess a pair of broadly palmated antlers with 
from 18 to 24 points. And even an ordinary beast will supply the 



286 SPORT IN EUROPE 

farmer with 500 lbs. to 700 lbs. of excellent meat, to be smoked or 
salted for winter consumption. The elk season in Norway, with a few 
local variations, lasts from the ist September to the 30th, with an 
extra day tor following a wounded deer. (I>\ the new Norwegian 
name law, passed since this paper was written, and coming into force 
July 1st, 1900, the season is limited to twenty days from September 
10th.) 

It should be mentioned that although the Scandinavians are an 
athletic race, often equal to a long stern chase after a travelling 
elk that will not stop for the loose dog, really first-rate hunters, 
especially stalkers, are, unluckily, almost as rare as first-rate dogs. 

Next in importance to the elk amongst Scandinavian big game 
is the wild reindeer (Rangifer tarandus), nowadays practically con 

fined to certain wildernesses among the high fjelds ol 

The Wild N7 ., . ' .... 

_, . . Norway, with a mean elevation <>1 4,000 leet. I he 

Reindeer. - ^ 

most extensive ol these are the great mountain plateau 
of the Hardanger-Vidde, having an area ol not less than 100 miles 
by So; the vast alpine region, of even greater extentrfying between 
the Sognefjord on the west and the plateau of \ alders and Guds- 
branddal on the south and north-east, and containing the peaks and 
glaciers of the Jotunfjelds ; the highlands running eastwards from 
Romsdal towards Roros, which include the Dovrefjelds ; and the 
more southern tract ot the Rytylke. extending inland from Stavanger. 
The chase of the wild reindeer is a grand sport, leading the 
hunter into regions of sublime desolation. But it scarcely demands 
-is much description and explanation as the pursuit of the elk, 
inasmuch as, although it necessitates the utmost exercise o| the 



SCANDINAVIA 



287 



stalker's art, it depends, as a rule, simply on stalking, and is followed 
either on flat, treeless wastes where the highest vegetation is probably 
a patch of dwarf- willow, or on steep, rock-strewn screes, 
alternating' with snowfields. Thorough knowledge of 



the ground and of the habits of the deer is of course 



Pursuit of 
Reindeer. 




THE HOME OF THE WILD REINDEER (JOTUNFJELDS, NORWAY) 

a great factor in success. The difficulty of stalking is much increased 
by the presence of a sentinel, who never for an instant remits his, or 
rather her (for a hind is always told off for this duty) vigilance, while 
the rest of the herd is feeding or lying down. The legal season for 
reindeer is from August 15th to September 15th, and during this 



288 SPORT IN EUROPE 

time the hunter who wishes to do the thing thoroughly will occupy 

a hut built in some sheltered nook of the fjeld where it is not likely 

to scare the deer. 

Of late years the numbers of the wild reindeer have sadly 

diminished from the following causes ; the increase in tame herds, 

which are beginning to invade even the sanctuary ol the 

_ . , Hardancfer-Vidde, and of which the wild animal cannot 

Reindeer. 

long endure the vicinity : the existence ol gangs <>t 
poachers, who do not respect the close season ; the facility with which 
excellent single-barrelled and even magazine rilles can be procured 
in Norway at prices ranging from ^"3 to 30s., and, coupled with this, 
the fact that the high fjelds are State or Crown lands, and that every 
native has the free right of sporting' over them, although aliens have 
to take out a ^12 licence for the same privilege. 

The red deer of Norway may be dismissed with a comparatively 
short notice, inasmuch as all the best forests are held on lease, chiefly 

by Englishmen, and their total average yield is under 

The Red , . , . , , .... 

_ 1 so stays a year, which is, nevertheless, too manv. 1 he- 

Deer. ° b J 

shooting of hinds is strictly forbidden, except to the 
farmers, who have the right of killing at any time of year deer of 
either sex which damage their crops, a privilege which is often grossly 
abused. Not a great many years ago it was believed that red deer 
were to be found only on the islands off the west coast, and especially 
on the large island of Hitteren, but it has been ascertained that they 
exist sparsely in several localities on the mainland, from .1 little north 
of Stavanger to within a hundred miles south of the Arctic circle. 
The red deer of Norway, although frequently seen on the open moor. 



SCANDINAVIA 289 

is essentially a woodland deer, hence driving has been practised by 

the lessees of the Hitteren forests to an extent not warranted by the 

stock of deer on the island, if the concomitant right of the farmers 

be taken into consideration. An elk-dog may be used with success 

to find deer in the woodlands, as the writer has proved on one of the 

smaller islands off the west coast. The season for red deer is from 

August 15th to September 15th, but in Hitteren it is extended until 

late in October. 

As before mentioned, the wild beasts of Scandinavia are the bear, 

the wolf, the lynx, and the glutton, which are sparingly distributed 

over the wildest parts of the peninsula. Of the number 

Wild Beasts. 
that are killed annually but few fall to the rifles of 

sportsmen who are only visitors to the country, the very large 

majority being slain during the winter by residents, especially by 

professional hunters and Lapps. The wolf, lynx, and glutton may 

indeed be passed over with the remark that there is just a chance, 

and no more, of the ordinary sportsman getting a glimpse of one 

of them during his stay in the country. And yet, strange to say, all 

three animals, probably from their skulking habits, seem to bold their 

own. Wolves, indeed, have in recent years increased in some districts. 

In the Swedish forest the lynx is occasionally hunted with dogs, and 

shot when treed. 

The Scandinavian brown bear is to a great extent graminivorous, 

subsisting during the summer and autumn chiefly on berries, which 

the northern soil produces in profusion and great 

, , , The Brown 

variety, on various roots, and on sundry succulent 

plants, such as the angelica. But in the spring, and 
u 



290 



SPORT IN EUROPK 




A NORWEGIAN FOREST ROA1 



at other seasons also if he have acquired the taste for blood, the 

cattle are by no means safe from his attack, and he will occasionally 
kill even a full-grown elk. He undoubtedly destroys man) calves. 
The habitual forest or fjeld hunter has the best chance of finding 
his spoor, ami of sighting him occasionally when devouring berries 



\-v ■■ ' '.*> 



SCANDINAVIA 291 

or grubbing about on the open hillocks. The writer has thus, in 
nine seasons, sighted in the district which he leases, about thirty- 
five miles by twenty-five, seven bears, including two cubs, and got 
within range of five, his opportunities in this line being considerably 
in excess of those which fall to the lot of most non-resident sportsmen. 
When a bear has killed a domestic animal or an elk, there is just a 
chance of obtaining a shot at the beast by watching at night near the 
carcase, but in such a case it is more than probable that it will make 
a circuit of the spot before returning to feed, get wind of the watcher 
and make off. A she-bear with very young cubs, surprised before 
she can conceal them, and a wounded bear, are apt to be dangerous ; 
otherwise the beasts invariably fly from the sight or scent of man, and 
are watchful to a degree that makes it always difficult to approach 
them. 

To the great bear drives (Sw. Skall) sometimes arranged in the 
Swedish forests, in which several hundred beaters and many shooters 
take part, and to the various, '(methods of rousing and killing the bear 
when hibernating beneath the snow in his lair (Nor. Hi), I can only 
allude and pass on ; but it may be mentioned that the daring little 
Lapps occasionally crawl into the snow-covered den, one man in front 
carrying the rifle, and another behind a long rod at the end of which 
is fixed a lighted candle. This he protrudes in front of his comrade, 
who is thus enabled to see the sight of his rifle, and the bewildered, 
blinking bear, who must be shot dead before he has time to realise 
the situation. A Lapp told the writer that once, at the very moment 
of pulling the trigger, he saw the form of a second bear rear itself up 
from behind a boulder which lay across the cave, and directly after the 



292 



SPORT IN EUROPE 



light was extinguished by the explosion. The intense anxiet) of the 
brief interval whilst a match was struck and the candle relighted may 
be imagined. But the hunters stood firm, and the second hear was 

killed also. In such cases the bullet must always he placed between 
the eyes. The Lapps also kill the lynx in a similar fashion. 

A treatise that pretends to deal more or less exhaustively with 
Scandinavian sport cannot altogether ignore the existence ol seals 

and otters. Scandinavian seals are chiefly of two kinds. 

the spotted and the grey. Unless the sportsman he 

\J L LCI o> 

desirous of obtaining a keg of oil, or a harsh, mottled 
skin, generally used for covering trunks or converting into tobacco 
pouches, he will scarcely take the trouble to pursue them : hut if the) 
infest the mouth of his salmon river he may he tempted to expend 
a few bullets on them. Otters of immense size — the writer has 
obtained skins measuring;" 5 ft. 1 1 in. from snout to tip of tail inhabit 
the innumerable rocky islets which fringe the Norwegian coast and 
live entirely in the sea, although they too at times enter the mouths 
of salmon rivers. Shots at them may Ik: had by pure accident, or 
by attaching onesell to a professional hunter who knows their haunts 
and habits. The skins when dressed are very handsome and oi 
considerable value. 

We have now to consider the small game of Scandinavia Blue 
hares, which in the northern forests and fjeld districts turn white in 

winter, are distributed over the whole peninsula, and in 

Small Game . .. ■ 

^, TT some parts are very numerous. According to national 

—The Hare. ' 

custom, they are usually hunted with dogs, when the) 
invariably run in circles, and are sure at last to come within range ol 



SCANDINAVIA 293 

the shooter, who remains stationary. The wandering sportsman will 

occasionally come across them in his rambles through the forest and 

on the fjelds. 

The principal game-birds of Scandinavia, five in number, are all 

of the grouse tribe. The capercailzie ( Tetrao urogallus) ; the black 

grouse ( Tetrao tetrix) ; the hazel-hen or tree-grouse 

Game Birds. 
( Tetrao bonasia) ; the ptarmigan (Lagopus a/pitia) ; and 

the willow-grouse (Lagopus sub-alpina). The first three birds are 

plentifully scattered over the forests and woodlands of both Sweden 

and Norway, and are especially numerous in localities where the pine 

and fir have been partially cleared away, allowing the birch and alder, 

the juniper, raspberry cane, bilberry, and whortleberry, and other 

frugiferous shrubs to spring up ; and where there are 

open willow-fringed morasses along the borders of which Capercailzie 

and Black 
they can feed and bask. The old cock cailzie, which Q ame 

weigh from 12 lbs. to 16 lbs., do indeed betake them- 
selves to the sombre depths of the pine forest and the seclusion of 
rocky ravines, and are, to the last degree, wary and difficult to 
approach, but the young birds of the year will often lie well to 
a dog up to the beginning of September. Black game are very 
partial to the neighbourhood of farms and clearings, and late in 
the season collect in packs to feed on the stubbles towards dusk and 
at dawn. A road or path which traverses the forest, and on which 
they can dust themselves, is a great attraction to them, as it is indeed 
to all the grouse tribe. The well-known practice common to several 
European countries of shooting the cock cailzie and the blackcock 
during the spring "lek," when they are occupied in calling the hens 



294 SPORT IN EUROPE 

round them, is much in vogue among the Norwegian farmers, who 

pride themselves on using the rifle only to bring the bird down. 

The little hjerpe, or hazel-hen, which, though a true grouse, is 

scarcely bigger than a partridge, and has delicious white flesh, is 

altogether sylvan in its habits. Directly the covey is 
Hjerpe. 

flushed, the birds take to the trees and sit motionless, 

requiring sharp and experienced eyes to detect them. Hut, il left 

quiet, they will after a time betray their whereabouts by a low whistle. 

When disturbed they dart with great speed through the forest for a 

short distance and settle again. The sportsman had better pocket 

his pride as a gunner, and shoot them sitting whenever he has the 

chance. Everyone, however magnanimous to begin with, always 

ends by doing it. 

The ptarmigan, or fjeld-rype, which is identical with the bird found 

in Scotland, is indigenous to the rocky summits of lofty mountains 

above the line of growth of the willow and dwarf-birch, 
Ptarmigan. 

and its pursuit leads the sportsman into grandly desolate 

regions. Early in the season the birds will run eroa'king before the 

shooter, and when forced to take wing, will soon settle again, lint 

later, when the first sprinkling of snow has fallen on the fjelds, and 

the birds become to a certain extent packed, they afford grand 

wild shooting, and with some management on the part of the guns. 

who must separate and go in opposite directions, splendid driving 

shots. 

But the bird on which the shot-gunner will chiefly depend for 

Willow his sport in Scandinavia is the Skov-rype, or willow 

grouse. In treating of this bird tin- writer thinks he 



SCANDINAVIA 295 

cannot do better than quote his own words, published elsewhere 
some years ago.* 

"The bird may well be called the birch-grouse to the exclusion 
of any other name, for wherever in Central or Northern Norway " 
— and this applies also to Sweden — "a long stretch of birchwood 
is seen clothing the slopes of a hill or the levels of a valley, be 
sure that at least some few coveys of ryper may be found there, 
unless, indeed, the birds have been exterminated by resident native 
sportsmen. In genuine pine-forest, altogether unmixed with birch, 
they are seldom seen. Where, too, the lower fjeld is covered with 
patches of birch, dwarfed by situation into scrub, and of the real 
dwarf-birch (Betitla nana), it is, as a rule, a favourite resort of the 
ryper. In such localities they also frequent, especially during the 
heat of the day, the damp thickets of dwarf willow which fill the 
hollows of the mountain and clothe the sides of the rills, and this 
habit has given to the bird the name of willow-grouse, by which 
it is generally known to \sportsmen and naturalists. Although the 
willow-grouse are abundant in Norway, they are scattered over a 
country which is on a vast scale, and except in certain favourite 
localities, the shooter must expect to make only small or moderate 
bags — from fifteen to twenty-five brace — to be obtained by much 
hard work. On a few of the outer islands below Trondhjem, of 
which Smolen is the best known, the ground is quite flat and 
entirely clothed with heather, not a tree being visible, and there 
the willow-grouse yield excellent sport, similar to that of the Scotch 
moors. The finest willow-grouse shooting in Norway is in the 

* The introduction to Murray's Handbook to Norway — "Shooting." 



296 SPORT IN EUROPE 

Lofoten islands; the best of it has been for main years leased 1>\ 
Englishmen. In a good season two guns have no difficult) in 
bagging from 1,500 to i.Soo brace over dogs.' 

Towards the north oi Sweden the bird is also ubiquitous 
wherever the ground suits it, and some of the best shooting is to 
be had in the- province of femtland, not far from the Norwegian 
border, and in other localities along the divide, running up to the 
wilds of Lapland. 

Dogs — setters, pointers, or spaniels are. as a rule, necessat") lor 

willow-grouse shooting with anything like steady success, hut. when 

unusually abundant in low scrub, the birds may be 
Dogs. 

walked up with the aid of two or three beaters. 

Unluckily for the sportsman, the peasants have in Norway the 
right of snaring all kinds of winged game; but it is hoped that 
this practice may he checked before long by fresh legislation. 

By the new game-laws, 1899, it is forbidden to shoot or snare 
capercailzie, black game, ryper, anil hjerpe before September 15th, 
and an alien must take out a game licence, costing rather over .{.5. 
Game is made the property of the landowner, and may not he killed 
in any way without his permission. This checks the " free-shooters," 
who have hitherto been allowed to shoot where they pleased without a 
dog. There is a small tax placed on snaring. An alien may not 
shoot small game on any state or communal lands over which 
Norwegian subjects have free rights. The districts of Lofoten and 
\ esteraalen are exempted from the action of this law as regards die 
close-time for small game. With this exception. I>\ Fixing September 
15th as the opening day, the authorities have practically put a stop to 



SCANDINAVIA 297 

the sport not only of visitors, but of residents and natives as well, 

inasmuch as by that date the weather has generally broken, and the 

birds are unapproachable with dogs, whilst most lessees of shootings 

have either left the country, or been obliged to return to their business 

in the towns. A great outcry has been raised in Norway over the 

extraordinary clauses relating to close-time, which, it is said, are 

offered as a sop to the peasant "free-shooters," whose rights have 

been altogether abolished. It is expected that the law will be partially 

repealed. 

The partridge is plentiful in some parts of Southern Sweden, 

and is found as far north as the province of Jemtland. It has 

also established itself to some extent in Southern 

Partridge. 
Norway, but in unusually hard winters nearly the 

whole stock perishes for want of food, and several seasons elapse 
before it again becomes in the least degree noticeable. 

Although countless thousands of woodcocks breed in Scan- 
dinavia, the sportsman ,jnust not expect to make large bags of 

them ; on the contrary, he' must be content if, during 

Woodcock, 
a long September ramble in the woods, he comes 

across three or four broods. But if he stay in the southern portion 

of the country as late as the end of October, he may have the 

rare good luck to drop upon a flight collected preparatory tu 

migration. 

The snipe shooting in some of the Swedish marshes is far superior 

to any to be found in Norway, except perhaps in the 

Snipe. 
immense tract of bog, morass, and rough meadow lying 

along the coast between Stavanger and Ekersund, and known as 



298 SPORT IN EUROPE 

fsederen. There, although the district lias <>| late years been much 

spoilt by a railroad which traverses it. and brings out an arm. of 

gunners, excellent sport may be had at times. Shore birds of ever) 

kind also abound along its coast, and it is the gathering-place "| 

thousands of the plover tribe just before migration. There, too, the 

double snipe collect for a short time in the autumn in great numbers. 

This delicious bird {Scolopax major; Nor. dobbelt Bekkasin), seldom 

seen in England, is of rather local distribution in Scandinavia, and 

rare in the extreme north, but is found well within the Arctic circle, 

being common in the Lofoten islands, and occasional in Swedish 

Lapland. It is less partial to wet ground than its smaller congeners, 

and is often flushed, like a woodcock, in perfectly dry scrub, at a high 

elevation. The little jack-snipe is scattered all oxer the country, and 

is believed to breed almost invariably within the Arctic circle. 

Despite the enormous number of ducks, geese, and swans which 

are bred all over Scandinavia, the lover of wild-fowl shooting who 

expects a great deal is sure to be disappointed, for 
Wild Fowl. 

during the time when foreign sportsman are in the 

country the birds are distributed among the innumerable ami often 
remote lakes, tarns, swamps, and other waters near which they have 
nested, and seldom, after the flapper stage, congregate anj where 
in sufficient numbers to provide really good shooting. And when 
the\- do assemble just before the really hard weather sets in, it is witli 
the object of at once taking (light for more temperate climes. Never- 
theless, the roving sportsman will find opportunities of securing a fair 
number of various ducks, and possibly a few geese, ami more than this 
he cannot reasonably expect, unless he devote himself to that branch 



SCANDINAVIA 299 

of sport and to obtaining local information respecting it. It must 
always be remembered that in many localities in Northern Norway, 
eider-ducks, so valuable for their clown, which is collected from the 
nests, are strictly preserved, and that there is a heavy fine for killing 
them. 



It may appear strange that so small a portion of this paper is 

devoted to the angling for which Norway is famous. But the fact 

is that nowadays the statistics of it may be well de- 
Fishing, 
scribed by the phrase "cut and dried." In the third 

decade of the nineteenth century Englishmen were first attracted 
to Norway by vague rumours of the wonderful sport which might 
be had there with the rod ; they came, they saw, they conquered, and 
from that clay to this Englishmen have never relaxed their iron grip 
of Norwegian fishings. Out of about three score first and second 
rate salmon rivers situated between lat. 58° and 70°, from Christian- 
sand on the south coast-H:^ \Pasvig on the Varanger fjord, two-thirds 
are permanently held by Englishmen, and the remainder are chiefly 
in the hands of companies or private owners who let to Englishmen 
by the season. Very few are retained by Norwegians for their own 
fishing. There are in addition a considerable number of inferior 
streams, yielding for a short and uncertain period fair sport with sea- 
trout, some grilse, and occasional salmon. Many of these have also 
been taken up by local companies, who dub them salmon rivers and 
demand high rents. When they succeed in enticing a tenant, he is 
sure to be an Englishman. 

It will be understood, therefore, that a visitor to Norwav has little 



3°° 



SPORT IN EUROPE 




WADING FOR SALMON (NORWAY) 



chance of obtaining good salmon fishing unless he secure a vacant 
place on one of the leased rivers, or hire a stretch of water from 
a company; in either case he must be prepared to pay well. The 
opportunities of the roving and exploring angler .ire consequently 

very limited, hut he nvvd not alto-ether despair of finding fair sport 
here and there, both with salmon and sea-trout. 

I he pioneers of old days enjoyed -rand sport, and paid little 



SCANDINAVIA 



301 




A SALMON RIVER (NORWAY) 



or nothing for it, but had to endure much discomfort and some hard- 
ship. Those who had not private yachts were obliged to cross the 
North Sea chiefly in timber-ships, which sometimes took weeks over 
the passage. They found poor accommodation and worse food, 
became sick of eating salmon, and suffered torments from mosquitoes 
and other insects, against which they had no defensive appliances. 
But we have changed all that. The modern angler crosses the North 
Sea in well-appointed steamers, accompanied by his wife and 



3 o2 SPORT IN EUROPE 

daughters; has a good house with every comfort and most luxuries, 
including mosquito-nets; and lives on the best ol everything. He 

has also excellent, in some cases wonderful, sport, notwithstanding 
the kilenoter or bag-nets, of which there are some 10.000 in the 
fjords of Norway. 

In the Alten, which may be selected as the type ol a first-class 
Norwegian river, with twenty-eight miles of fishing water, mostly 
adapted for casting, four rods can. in a good season, take 10.000 lbs. 
of salmon, the fish averaging over 20 11 >s. It is all in the hands 
of one Englishman. In the Xamsen, divided into eight or nine 
beats, splendid sport is also obtained, and lish ol over 511 lbs. are 
occasionally caught. All the fishing is there done by "harling," 
or trailing the fly or spoon down-stream from a boat which is worked 
zi''za ( ''wise across the current. In second-rate rivers each rod may, 
in good seasons, on which, after all, everything depends, fairly expect 
from 800 lbs. to 1,000 lbs. of salmon. The comparatively small Aar6 
river, in Sogn, is remarkable for yielding fish ol upwards ol 60 lbs. 
Most of the Norwegian salmon fishing is clone from boats, but here 
and there is found a first-class river, such as the Leirdal, which may 
be worked from the bank or by wading. 

The Swedish rivers, with the exception of a few which run into 
the Kattegat and the Lkiltic, and are in the hands of native sportsmen, 
have been pronounced, after several trials by experienced anglers, 
to be worthless to the salmon-fisher. And yet there are main 
of them, large and small, swarming with fish, which are taken in nets. 
It is supposed that the brackish condition of the Gulf ol Bothnia 
(the water is nearly fresh on approaching the head of the gulf) is the 



SCANDINAVIA 



3°3 



cause of the salmon refusing to take the fly when they enter the 
rivers. But it is certain that in some of the rivers of Swedish 
Lapland they will take the spoon or phantom. The whole subject 
is wrapped in mystery, and an adventurous sportsman might well be 




A HIGH-LEVEL TRpUT RIVER (JEMTLAND, SWEDEN) 



tempted to make a fresh trial of the rivers, striking them at their 

upper pools, a long way from the sea. 

In the countless small streams of Scandinavia, from south to 

north, there is any amount of trout — and occasionally of grayling — 

fishing to be had. The fish usually run of respectable, 

Trout, etc. 
and often of large size. Most of the stream fishing- 

is free, and, if not, a small payment will generally satisfy the 

proprietor. In many of the equally countless lakes and tarns, fly, 

spoon and phantom may also be used with great success. In one 



3o 4 SPORT IN EUROPE 

of the lakes in [emtland, a friend o( the writer once took, on a large 
phantom, six successive trout, weighing together 79 l!>s. Some <>l 
these lakes also abound with large char of the Arctic species 
(Corregowus arcticus), which are found also in many northern rivers, 
descending, when they can. to the sea. like salmon or sea trout. I 

The sik, or gwiniad {Corregonus lavaretus), is of local occurrence. 
Coarse fish, including pike, perch, pike-perch {Lucioperca sandrd) 

and man\' other species, are abundant in the low-level lakes ot 
Sweden, and there is excellent sea fishing all round the coast ol 
Norway. 



SPAIN 







IBEX 







H.M. THE LATE KING OUT DUCK-SHOO LING 

SPAIN 

-. < 

By THE DUKE OF FRIAS 



^HAT our country might, with some spirited attempt at proper 
-*- legislation, be made one of the finest sporting countries of- 
Southern Europe, English readers have surely been convinced by 
the authors of that admirable work. Wild Spain, or, as they also 
call it, Espafia agreste. When our legislators realise, as they may- 
one of these days, that the game of a country deserves protection 
as a source of wealth, it may be doubted whether any other 

3°7 



308 SPORT IN EUROPE 

Continental country, with the possible exception of Austria Hungary, 

will show such abundance and variety of sport. At present it must 
reluctantly be confessed that there is too much revenue-making and 
too little encouragement to preserve. Heavy taxation combines 
with the existing agricultural depression to preclude .my hut the 

wealthiest landowners preserving game, and such laws as exist 
against poaching' are either treated as a dead letter, or else, even it 
enforced, absurdly inadequate. Considering the variety ot country in 
Spain — the mountains with their bears, their ibex, and their chamois, 
not to mention trout and salmon rivers ; the plains with their boar and 
deer and bustards; the marshes with their teeming wealth of wild 
fowl (such bags as are made in few other corners of Europe) tin- 
total amount of sport obtained in the peninsula is simply ridiculous. 
F"or this result it would almost look as if the sportsmen are in 
a measure to blame. Foxes are hunted only by the Calpe 
pack at Gibraltar. Pig-sticking there might be — we have for years 
stuck pig near Tangier over country every bit as bad but for 
some reason or other there is none.* Still. 1 must give a picture 
of the sport as it is, not as it might In-, and 1 dare say the best 
arrangement will be to take the beasts and birds in order. Such 
a plan has no doubt its drawbacks, but the same might probably 
be said of any other. 

It will first be convenient to give a list of the game, with the 
Spanish name for each : — 

* I understand, however, that a movement i-> mi foot for starting pig-sticking next year, 
the promoters being the Duke of Arion, on liis estate Malpica, in the province ol Toledo, 
ami the Duke of Medinaceli, at Almoraima, near Gibraltar. May success attend their 

efforts ! — K. 



SPAIN 



3°9 



BEASTS. 



BIRDS. 



Red Deer . 


Venado. 


Great Bustard 


Abie tarda. 


Fallow Deer 


Gamo. 


Lesser „ 


Sison. 


Roedeer 


Corzo. 


Partridge 


Perdiz. 


Ibex . 


Cabra monies. 


Quail . 


Codorniz. 


Izard (Chamois) 


Rebeco. 


Woodcock 


Chocha. 


Boar . 


Javali. 


Snipe 


Agacliadiza 


Bear . 


Oso. 


Wild Duck . 


Anade. 


Lynx . 
Wild Cat . 
Wolf . 
Fox 
Hare . 


Lince. 

Gato monies. 

Lobo. 

Zorra. 

Liebre. 


Goose 
Eagle 
Vulture . 
Flamingo 


Ganso. 
Aguila. 
Buitre. 
Flamenco. 


Rabbit 


Conejo. 







It will not escape notice that the above list includes one or 
two animals, such as wild cats, eagles, and vultures, that are not 
regarded as legitimate objects of sport in some other countries ; 
but I imagine that I shall best do the work I have undertaken by 
describing Spanish sport, fi-qm the Spanish point of view. 

Red deer occur chiefly in the provinces of Estremadura and 
Andalusia, where they are strictly preserved. The favourite method 
is to drive them to the guns, sometimes with the help 
of a pack of podencos. a powerful and swift-footed 
greyhound, also used for boar. On the whole, perhaps, our red- 
deer have finer horns than the Scotch stag, but the heads are far 
inferior to those of Hungary. I never heard of anyone stalking 
them. The late King Alfonso XII. was a keen shooter of stags, 
and there were noble heads in the royal preserves at Riofrio, near 
Segovia, where I have seen a head of thirty-three points. It would. 



Deer. 



310 SPORT IN EUROPE 

by the way, be out of the question for anyone visiting the country 
to get a shot at a stag, except by invitation. Fallow deer arc 
also found in the royal preserves, and the Infanta gives shooting 

parties at Riofrio, at which the fallow are driven. Only rillcs 

are used here, but shot-guns are allowed in the Pardo, a royal 

domain in the neighbourhood of Madrid that has been let to 

shooting' clubs. This is but poor sport. hallow deer are also 

preserved on a few private estates, and have even in one or two 

places run wild. Roedeer are found in the wooded hills all over 

the country, and are driven and killed with buck-shot. Unfortunately, 

much less attention is paid to the necessity of sparing the females 

than I have observed to be the case in some countries oi Centra] 

Europe, in consequence of which the roe only just holds its own 

in many parts. 

The ibex, the finest beast of its kind in Spain, is stalked or 

driven in the summer months among the highest mountain peaks, 

and only those who are ready to face the Stiff est 

_. . climbs, with some little measure ol danger, can hope 

Chamois. 

for the chance of an ibex head. Mr. Pablo Larios, 

who has had much ibex-shooting, kindly sends me the following 
notes : — 

I shall never forget my first sight of ibex, that grandest of wild beasts in Spain, if 

not in Southern Europe. I was visiting the country in the summer of 1888, when my 

journey brought me to the pretty little town of Marbella. picturesquely 
Ibex. 

situated on the shore of the Mediterranean, and surrounded by fertile fruit 

and vegetable gardens, behind which rises majestically to about 4,000 feet above the 

level of the sea the Sierra Blanca (White Mountains) of Ojen. I was anxious to get 

information about ibex-shooting in the Sierra Nevada, and on making inquiries from 



SPAIN 



3 11 



my friend, the farmer and lessee of Sierra Blanca, with whom I was staying, and who, 
I knew, had lived some time there, my surprise and delight were great to hear him ask 
me why I wished to go so far when I could get ibex close at hand ? I could scarcely 
credit this good news, and determined to put it to the test at once, notwithstanding the 




FIVE IBEX TROPHIES BAGGED BY MR. PABLO LARIOS IN THE SIERRA DE OJEN, 
ALL BUT ONE IN THE AUTUMN, BETWEEN 1889 AND 1899 

(The horns measure on outside curve between 20 and 22 in.) 



many difficulties placed in the way by my friend, such as that the sun was too hot ; the 
climb too stiff; I could not stand it, etc., etc. 

I was off the next morning before daybreak, accompanied by two guardas (keepers) 
and a cazador (hunter), Melchan by name, who knew every inch of the Sierra, and to 
whom I chiefly owe my success, if I may so call it, in ibex-stalking. 



312 SPORT IN EUROPE 

We rode to the small village of Ojen, there left our mules, and then commenced 
a stiff climb indeed. At first, along beaten goat-tracks, matters went fairly well, but, 
when we got higher, the ground became more and more difficult. Steep < 1 i iTs had to 
be surmounted, ravines with loose stones had to be crossed, and climbing over slippery 
esparto grass just above a wall of rock, two or three hundred feet high, gave a novice 
like myself a most uncomfortable feeling. As we got higher, the halts became more 
frequent, and it took us from three to four hours to get to the ibex ground. 

The view from one of the peaks was magnificent. Looking north, there lay at my 
feet the valley and town of Monda (the historical " Munda" of the Romans), and to the 
west, the bare Sierra de Tolox, the highest peak of the mountain chain of Ronda (some 
5,500 feet). Further north were the villages of Casarabonela, Yunguera, Guaro, Coin, 
and Alhaurin, and the fertile Vega de Malaga with its sugar cane, vines, orange, and 
olive plantations, Sierra de Mijas, and behind it Malaga itself with its fine port Then, 
far away in the distance, I could see the white peaks of the Sierra Nevada, the 
Mediterranean on the east, and Ceuta on the coast of Morocco, as well as Gibraltar and 
its bay, the nearer Sierra Bermeja hiding part of it from view. Then the Sierras of 
Algeciras and Castellar up to the valley of Jimena, and the Sierras of Alcala and Cortes 
to that of Ronda. 

It was proposed to drive a big ravine on one of the slopes of the Sierra. I was 
placed at the head of it, and a couple of hours later I had the satisfaction of seeing a 
string of thirteen or fourteen rams not a hundred yards from my post. It was a grand 
sight indeed. Some of the old machos (rams) had fine heads, and most of them came 
in front. They were too far off to shoot, for I had only an old borrowed gun, which 
I mentally vowed not to fire, besides which I felt quite happy, as I had seen what I 
sought, and far more than I had ever dreamt of seeing on that first day, though I must 
say that the guardas were not of my opinion. 

Another big ravine was next driven, but I was so exhausted that I fell asleep, and 
I was told that a number of ewes passed within a few yards of my post. 

Since then I have passed many happy days in the Sierra, accompanied by old 
Melchan. As an instance of the endurance of mountaineers, this tatador was ova 
seventy years old, and at that age it was marvellous to see him climb like a goat 
over rocks, and stand or walk quite comfortably within a few inches of a yawning 
precipice, or walk as erect and firmly over steep slopes of small, loose stones as when 
going on a level road. He was one of those few cazadorts who are sportsmen at heart. 
Melchan lived at the small village of Istan. and there farmed a little plot of ground; 
and. whenever he was free, he would put a piece of bread and cheese, or |xirk, into his 



SPAIN 313 

morral (knapsack) and go and spend days on the Sierra, sleeping in some of the 
caves or under a ledge of rocks. He more often stalked the rams than waited for 
them on the passes, or puertos, and, even when successful, what he got for the skin 
and flesh would hardly give him a moderate day's wage. There are few left of 
this class of mountaineers, and those that now shoot over the Sierra from time to 
time, form large batidas (battues), driving and slaughtering everything that comes 
within range. Happily, ibex are not so easily surprised, else they must have become 
extinct long since. 

On my first attempt at stalking on Sierra Blanca, I was so fortunate as to get a 
big ram with horns measuring 22 inches, but missed another. My friend and companion, 
Captain W , who had shot big game a good deal in India, and who, alas ! afterwards 
met his death there on the polo ground, also got another head somewhat bigger than 
that which fell to my share, and I have never had a blank week on the Sierra in the 
autumn, though I have often returned empty-handed in the spring. 

Sierra Blanca is an isolated ridge of hills of limestone rock, extending about ten 
or twelve miles from north to south, and from six to eight miles wide. On the west and 
south the river Verde separates it from Sierra Real and Palmitera, and on the north side 
it is cut off by the river Ojen. High up in the centre there is a large, flat, sandy valley 
surrounded by high peaks, and very much like the mouth of a volcano. On one side 
of this valley is a farm enclosed by an olive plantation and some pine trees, and this 
I make my headquarters when ibex-shooting. The higher parts of the Sierra have 
little or no brushwood, and some portions are nothing but clean boulders of rock. 
Some of the slopes are covered >with esparto grass and others with fine short grass, 
while on the lower parts of the hills there are coarse heather, broom, and gorse, with 
locust-bean trees and some pines. 

One should be as early as possible on the peaks and passes (puertos), whence 
a good view of the slopes and conies of the opposite hills can be obtained, so as to 
spy them carefully with a glass. It is necessary to search these from different angles, 
as often, with the enormous walls of rock, nooks and corners are most difficult to see 
into, and, should they hold ibex, these may easily escape detection. There are some 
ravines of so intricate a nature that they cannot be searched without walking or creeping 
up to them, and this I generally do after having scanned them well with a glass. 

When ibex are seen on fairly open slopes, or in accessible ravines, with some 
patience stalking can be accomplished when one has the wind in the right direction. 
To manage this latter is a most difficult thing, as the wind shifts and alters so much in 
direction in the ravines and valleys. 



3 H 



SPORT IN EUROPE 



In some places, ibex are most difficult, and at times impossible, to approach to within 
shot, and under such circumstances the only thing to l» done is to place yourself on one 
of the passes that they take and send your guarda round the opposite side to disturb 
them and drive them towards you. This can be done by his simply showing nil 
and they will probably take their natural passes, but, should they be frightened by shouts 
or falling stones, the odds arc that they will run over rocks as steep as a house and 
places one would imagine it impossible for even a goat to get over. When moving from 
one peak to another, one should walk half-way, or a quarter way, down along the slop s 
and never on the ridge itself. You can scan the ground much better, while showing 
yourself less. It is harder work, no doubt, but one is compensated in tin 
run. One great difficulty is getting over steep ravines with loose stones without moving 
them and making a noise, but this can only be accomplished with practice. Every time 
one approaches the ridges of these ravines he should crawl carefully up to them and 
scan every yard, taking care to do so from the side of a large rock and never from the 
top. In fact, one should be on the qui vive the whole day, and think there are ibex 
in front and on each side of him. The moment you grow careless you are certain to 
put them up and perhaps see them disappear over the next ridge in front. When once 
disturbed, it is a wild-goose chase to follow them, for they will travel a long way b 
they settle again. I have often been disappointed in this way, and have lost a whole 
day uselessly following up a big ram or two. They will walk slowly on, apparently 
little frightened, feeding here and there, but always on the move and going over places 
from whence they could command any danger approaching them from every quarter. 
These remarks may perhaps be superfluous to many, but they migltf be of some use 
to those who have not done any shooting on the Sierras. 1 may add a word about 
boots or shoes. Esparto grass shoes or sandals are good, but they are very hard, have 
little pliancy, and require practice to walk in, besides blistering the feet Hemp soles 
are also good, but last very little on some of these Sierras. I have found boots, or 
still better shoes, with thick soft rubber soles to be the most comfortable to walk in 
and to last the longest. I have tried them in both the south and the north, on the 
Picos de Europa, with admirable results. 

In the spring and summer one cannot be too early on the peaks, but in the autumn 
this early rising is not necessary, as the ibex feed up to much later in the daytime. The 
best time to shoot rams on all the Sierras in the south of Spain is without doubt in the 
autumn, when the rutting season commences. In the spring and summer, male ibex are 
gregarious, except some old solitary ones that sometimes air accompanied bj a two or 
three year old ram (c/iivo). At this time of the year they hide in caverns under rocks 



SPAIN 



3*5 




AN IBEX HEAD BAGGED BY MR. PABLO LARIOS 
Length on outside curve 22 in.; girth, 7.^ in.; tip to tip, 14 in.) 



3i6 SPORT IN EUROPE 

and in the brushwood, and are very difficult to find ; often have I been disappointed, 
and only once successful. On this occasion I had walked for days without seeing a 
single ram, though I had come across forty or fifty ewes with their young. It was 
a scorching hot day, and I was resting on a rock on one of the peaks, below which was 
a deep ravine, so bare that I thought it impossible for ibex to be there and not l» 
seen. In the middle of the gully, about 300 yards or more below me, there were a 
few bushes of thin gorse round a big rock. As 1 was moving away, my guarda dropped 
a stone, which went rolling down a water-channel, when suddenly, from below the 
bushes, up jumped an old ram with a chivo. Both the guarda and I went down like 
a shot, and, as luck would have it, they never saw us, but moved slowly away, looking 
in all directions, and disappeared under a huge tajo (perpendicular cliff) which I knew 
well. I told the guarda to stop where he was, and hurried along as fast as I could go 
to a pass I thought they would take on the other side of a deep corrie below that cliff. 
The wind was in the right direction, but I had not got within 150 yards of the pass 
when I saw the horns of the ram appear from under a rock. I went on my stomach, 
and crept downhill for twenty or thirty yards to some small rocks, the only shelter near 
me, which I was fortunate enough to reach without being seen. The two rams 
kept slowly moving on, stopping to look round now and again. The big one was 
now behind a thin bush, and I waited till he was clear. My hands and arms ached 
dreadfully from creeping, and I could not steady my rifle, but at last he gave me a 
fine chance of a broadside shot and I fired. Away he went at the rate of fifty miles 
an hour, flying over the rocks, and, on firing my second barrel from behind him. la- 
dropped down dead. Upon examination, however, I found that the 450 solid bullet 
from my first barrel had gone through his lungs, and that my second shot had clean 
missed him. 

I afterwards found that, among the thin gorse where the ibex first appeared, then 
was a small cave which it was quite impossible to see from a distance. This rain's 
horns measured about 23 inches, and he weighed 1 20 lbs. clean. 

Another spring, after a hard week's walking without seeing a macho (ram), 1 was 
resting to lunch after having stalked a ewe and young, and got what I thought was a 
splendid shot with a kodak at not more than six or eight yards off, but which I had not 
the satisfaction of seeing developed, as the guarda unfortunately dropped the camera 
and broke the plates. I had walked to a spring, low down on the north east side of 
the sierra, so low that ibex are seldom seen there, and. on my return, I climbed along 
the side of a small hill partly covered with gorse, locust bean trees, and a tew lentisco, 
when suddenly I heard a crash through the trees, and that familiar noise of the rolling 



SPAIN 317 

of stones downhill. A moment after a string of sixteen rams topped the sky-line one 
after the other. I took a long shot, but missed, and, although I prolonged my stay on 
the sierra, I never saw them again. 

In the autumn, the rams are with the ewes in flocks of from three to six. They 
can be easily seen on open grass slopes or on the high peaks, and they are distributed 
pretty well all over the sierra, where the feeding is good, and then is the time to stalk 
them. The only inconvenience, and even danger at times, is the thick mist which 
suddenly envelops the hills at this season of the year, and one runs the risk of having 
to stop under a rock the whole day, and maybe the whole night also. 

The rutting season lasts from the middle of September to the middle of October, 
but depends, I believe, a good deal upon the early rains and the time when the young 
grass begins to flourish. Ewes therefore breed from the middle of March to April. 
Ibex change their winter coat from April to May, as soon as they have young, and it 
is before then that the rams leave the ewes and flock together. As I said before, they 
generally form large flocks, but not always, as I have noticed them in smaller flocks 
some years when food has been scarce. 

Of the ibex I have shot on the Sierra Blanca, the largest horns measured nearly 
26 inches, and I do not think they run much over 30 inches. I have seen some in the 
possession of the Duke of Fernan Nunez of quite 30 inches, shot at Sierra Frigiliana. 

As regards the ibex ground in the south of Spain, I would divide it into three 
districts in the provinces of Malaga, Granada, and Almeria. First, Sierra Nevada 
proper ; second, the sierras forming the spurs of the Sierra Nevada and descending 
to the shores of the Mediterranean between Velez-Malaga and Almeria ; and third, 
the mountain chain of Ronda, comprising all the sierras south of Malaga. 

There may be ibex on the Sierra Morena, but I have never heard of them. 

In the north there are ibex on the Pyrenees and the Sierra de Credos, of which 
latter and of Sierra Bermeja (Sierra de Ronda), as well as of ibex-shooting in general, 
there is an excellent account given by Messrs. Chapman and Buck in Wild Spain. 

On the sierras of Ronda, ibex are to be found in Sierra Bermeja, Sierra Palmitera, 
Sierra de Tolox, and Sierra de Ojen. The first three are covered with gorse, brushwood, 
and either pine or cork trees ; the two last are, as already stated, pretty bare. 

Of the spurs of the Sierra Nevada, those known by me to hold ibex are : Sierra de 
Competa, Sierra de Nerja, Sierra de Motril or Lujar, Sierra Tejada (part of which is 
called Cazules, and is mostly private property and preserved), Sierra de Albania, near 
the latter, and Sierra de Frigiliana. Some of the foregoing sierras are of bare rock, 
and some are covered with brushwood and gorse. 



3i8 



SPORT IN EUROPE 




AN [BEX HEAD BAGGED BV MR. PABLO LARIOS 
(Length on outside curve, .-6 in.; 



SPAIN 319 

On the Sierra Nevada ibex take principally to that part called San Geronimo, 
Picacho de Veleta, and Guejar. 

I have no experience of Sierra de Gredos, but my friend Count San Martin de 
Hoyos, a well-known sportsman of the north, who has shot several times there, tells 
me that ibex are plentiful, the ground being very much like that of the Sierra de Ojen, 
well adapted for stalking, which he has carried out, and not so precipitous as the 
Picos de Europa of Asturias. Sierra Gredos is, I believe, about 8,000 feet high, and lies 
between Castilla and Estremadura, with big ravines running down on either side. The 
Laguna de Gredos, on the top of the sierra, is the most central place for camping. 
Sierra Gredos belongs in great part to the Marquis de la Torrecilla, but he does 
not preserve it. Here, as in all the sierras, tents and provisions have to be taken. 



On the high and wild Picos de Europa, about 9,000 feet above the sea-level, which 

lie in the provinces of Santander, Asturias, and Leon, strange to say there are no ibex, 

and only chamois are to be found, with bears on the lower parts. I have 

Chamois, 
shot chamois there with Count San Martin, but only once attempted to 

stalk them. We there had them driven. Most of the higher parts of this sierra are 

so steep, with such enormous walls of rock and deep crevasses, that I should think 

it would be most difficult, if not impossible, to stalk even when knowing the ground 

well. 

I remember shooting five chamois on one occasion from where I was posted, and 

the men could only pick up three of them, the others having to be abandoned to the 

eagles, having dropped into abysses impossible for a human being to descend without 

risking his life. Sajos, Pena-Sabra, and Sagra (where there are bears also), and the 

high peaks of Trebana and Pajares, Aliva and Liordes (which latter is the best place 

to camp, there being a mine, worked in the summer, and some huts), all these in the 

province of Asturias, are to be got at from Potes, through which town there is a carriage 

road, and by going through the town of Panes to the village of Cabrales, you get on 

to the peaks of Hoyo Grande, Los Boches, Peiia Vieja, and by the village of Bulnes 

to Potes, Peiias de Bulnes, and Pena Santa. On the lower hills, round Reinosa, there 

are bears, and the chamois may be more easily stalked. The only time to go on 

the Picos is in the summer, when the snow has melted, and even then you get frozen 

snow in some of the enormous ravines. To get over this it is necessary to place steel 

spikes on the soles or heels of one's boots to prevent slipping. 



3 2o SPORT IN EUROPE 

The chamois, more properly izard, is driven in the higher slopes 
of the Pyrenees and mountains of Santander, and does not, so far 

as I know, occur in any of the central or southern mountains. 

Wild boar are numerous, particularly in the central and southern 
provinces, and the favourite method of killing them is by driving. 
In Toledo and Estremadura, however, they hunt boar 
with the aforementioned podencos, and a/anos, a kind 
of mastiff, are also employed to hold the boar down 
by the ears, while someone walks up and knifes it. This, by the 
way, is a mere complimentary job for a visitor, as there is no danger 
in it whatever. Spanish boars run to a great size and have all the 
pluck and fight of their kind, which makes it all the more welcome 
that pig-sticking should be given a chance of attaining popularity. 
In some parts of Spain these animals are very plentiful, and I 
recollect seeing one gun bag seven pig in a single beat in the 
Sierra Morena. Pig have been hunted with spears in the Coto de 
Onana, near Sevilla, let by the Duke of Medina -Sidonia to a leu 
sportsmen belonging to Jerez and Sevilla, but they are more com- 
monly killed in that wonderful preserve in drives, along with red 
and roe deer. Bears are found only in the Pyrenees and one or 
two other ranges in the north. The peasants kill them with the 
knife, but sportsmen seem to prefer the rifle. 

The lynx and wild cat, terrible poachers both, and very fierce 
for their size, are shot in all the mountainous districts. 

t.r-.j ^ ^ The lynx is particularly plentiful, though probably 
Wild Cat. j i . i j 

on the decrease, in Andalusia and other southern 
provinces, while the wild cat is most abundant in the province 



SPAIN 321 

of Toledo. Though wary as a rule and difficult to approach, wild 

cats seem subject to sudden fits of unaccountable stupidity, and 

I recollect a case in point that is perhaps worth quoting. We were 

on our way to take our place in a boar drive in the Sierra Morena, 

when I spied a large wild cat seated in a dead tree and raised my 

gun to shoot it. The head keeper remonstrated, however, saying 

that the report of a gun so near the beat might alarm the boar 

and spoil sport, but he assured me that I could shoot the cat on 

the way home. At the same time he tied his handkerchief round 

the tree, not far from the ground, and, incredible as it may appear, 

the cat did not dare to pass the handkerchief and was shot four 

or five hours later. 

Wolves are plentiful throughout the country and do a good deal 

of damage in cold winters, though they do not appear to hunt in 

such large packs as in Russia. They generally lie low 

Wolf. 
in the most inaccessible parts', of the hilly districts and 

are difficult to get at, but their daring is occasionally remarkable. 
I have, for example, known wolves in the province of Segovia, 
even in July, approach within a hundred yards of a house and 
kill three sheep, and this in spite of the mastiffs specially armed 
with spiked collars as a protection against these marauders. Occa- 
sionally in the big beats for boar and stag, in Estremadura and 
Andalusia, one gets a shot at a slinking wolf, but not very often. 
The late king was once returning from a shooting expedition in 
the forest of Valsain (Segovia), when, to his surprise, one of the 
keepers fired on what he thought was a dog, which proved, however, 
to be a young wolf that had followed the other clogs. There is, 



322 



SPORT IN EUROPK 



by the way. a Government reward for the destruction <>i every 

wolf, but this seems to have little effect on their numbers. 

Fox. Foxes are common enough in Spain, but arc. as 

already mentioned, hunted only by the Calpe pack at Gibraltar. 

There are three packs of hounds in Spain, the Calpe foxhounds at Gibraltar and two 
packs of harriers at Madrid, one a subscription pack, under the SocicdaJ dc Ctua, the 
president being the Duke de Alba, and the other hunted by the Marquis de Larios. The 




I III' CALPE HOUNDS ON I'll H I 1 ) 



Calpe hounds are the only foxhounds. Their origin is rather doubtful, but they are 
traced back to 1814, when a club was constituted under the name of "Civil Hunt," 
wearing a blue uniform and silver buttons, the hounds being then housed at San Roque, 
about six miles from Gibraltar. At first the hunt was entirely composed of civilians ; 
but some years later, when most of the original members had ceased to belong, and 
military men had been admitted in large numbers, the management gradually fell into 
the hands of the officers of the garrison, the uniform being then changed to scarlet, and 



SPAIN 



3 2 3 



the hounds brought in from San Roque, kennels being built outside Gibraltar. Since 
then the Calpe hounds have existed, with varying fortunes, but with an inherent vitality 
which has brought them safely through many difficulties and dangers. The country is 
very hilly as a rule, and is composed of cultivated and grass land, with thick gorse and 
cover, woodland in part, and also crags and rocky hills. The regular hunting begins in 
the middle of November, and the season lasts until about the end of March. A very 
long list of masters exists since the origin of the hunt, amongst which are many well- 
known sporting names ; the whips have always been amateurs, officers of the garrison. 




THE CALPE HOUNDS 



The whole of the expenses of the pack were defrayed by subscriptions until 1895, when 
the then master, Mr. P. Larios, took the hounds over, and offered to hunt the country 
under a limited fixed subscription, since which time he has continued to carry the horn. 
The country is hunted three days a week, and there are about forty-five couple of hounds 
in the kennels, most of which come from the Duke of Buccleuch's, the Brocklesby, and 
the Southwold kennels, while some are bred in Spain. Foxes are plentiful and very 
strong and most difficult to run into in the open, on account of the difficulties of the 
ground, the thick gorses, and many badger-earths, but runs of from seven to twelve 



324 SPORT IN EUROPE 

mile points and over are not uncommon. On an average, when hounds hunted twice a 
week, the kills during the season were from ten to fourteen brace, and mure than twice 
that number ran to ground. 

There is a breed of hounds in the north of Spain called sadufSOS, very much tile type 
of an English foxhound. They are used in hunting wild boar, deer, etc , and they have 
excellent nose and tongue. It is a great pity that this breed is not improved by 
systematic breeding and selection of sires and dams, as I believe they would make most 
useful hounds. 



Hares and rabbits arc in Spain what they arc- elsewhere, and 

call for no special remark. Salamanca is rather famous lor big bags 

of hares, and they are also coursed with greyhounds, 

R hh't- though chiefly by the peasants, in Castilla. Rabbits. 

everywhere plentiful, seem to be on the increase. The 

favourite method is shooting them over dogs, but both driving and 

ferreting are extensively practised. 

I now come to the birds, which range from the great bustard, 
the finest sporting bird perhaps in Europe, to the wild fowl of 
the marshes. 

The great bustard is most plentiful on the southern plains, being 

comparatively scarce in some of the northern provinces. Like all 

dwellers of the plains, the bird is far-sighted and 

Bustard suspicious, but may generally be approached in a 

bullock cart. The cart is slowly driven in circles 

round and round the spot where the birds were last seen, and at 

every available cover a gunner dismounts and lies down in readiness. 

Eventually the cart gets quite near the birds and stops suddenly, 

when the birds rise and may or may not llv over one of the ambushed 



SPAIN 325 

guns. They may also be stalked with a rifle. So numerous are they 
in some of the flat country, that it is no uncommon sight to see, 
from the windows of the train between Jerez and Sevilla, flocks 
of thirty or forty. Bustards are also shot in drives, and many 
sportsmen prefer this before all other methods. 

The little bustard is without doubt the most astute bird of the 
plains, and is as a rule only shot in the stubble during 
the quail season. Exceptional cases may happen, how- R . 

ever, in which the birds are so intent on feeding that 
considerable bags are made, but these occasions must be prized as 
very rare. 

The red-leg is the common partridge of Spain, but the grey bird 

is also found in the mountains of Santander and elsewhere. The 

season lasts from the 15th August to 15th January, and 

Partridge, 
the birds are shot over clogs or driven. In the former 

case, the bags are necessarily small, for the birds are wild in even 

the best preserves, and very fond of running, besides which they 

occur most freely in broken ground. They are less wild perhaps 

in parts of Galicia, but even there twelve brace to each gun is 

regarded as an uncommonly good bag over dogs. At the drives, 

on the other hand, the numbers killed are a very different matter, 

and wonderful bags of two or three hundred head in the day are made 

on such preserves as those belonging to the Marquis of Mudela, 

the Duchess of Fernan-Nuhez, the Marquis of Santurce, and the 

Marquis of la Torrecilla. It must, however, be borne in mind that 

there is no artificial breeding in Spain, and that we have moreover 

to contend with two grave evils. The first of these is natural, and 



326 SPORT IN EUROPE 

consists of the enormous numbers of eagles, vultures, lynxes, .mil 

other vermin, which commit such damage as would. I rainy, make 
many an English keeper throw Lip his job broken-hearted. The 

second menace to our partridges is the poaching trick — I can call 

it nothing better — of shooting- them with the help of call-birds, a 

practice that should at all costs be suppressed. The cage containing 

the call-bird is conveniently placed, and the gun hides close by, 

shooting the birds on the ground as they fly up. (It is even stated, 

though this sounds rather like a fable, that a well-bred call-bird will 

sulk if the gunner misses his birds !) Be this, however, as it may, 

it is certain that these call-birds are much prized, a really good one 

readily fetching five or six hundred pesetas, or as much as five-and- 

twenty sovereigns. There is a futile- law that forbids your neighbour 

bringing a call-bird within one kilometre* of your preserves, but as 

these birds are able to call up partridges a distance of two or three 

miles it will be seen that the prohibition is merely ridiculous, and 

it is devoutly to be hoped that more sensible legislation may soon 

come in force. 

Quail cross from Morocco in April, for breeding quarters, and 

quail-shooting opens in most provinces on ist August, but in Burgos, 

Soria, and Valladolid not until the ioth. The birds 
Quail. 

are shot over dogs in the stubble and pastures, ami 

great bags are sometimes made. I recollect a party of live guns 
getting in one day near Siguenza no less than 490 brace. Burgos, 
Soria, Segovia, and Old Castilla are undoubtedly the finest localities 
for quail. It is a curious fact, and one perhaps worth recording, that 

* This is equivalent, roughly, to rather over three-fifths of a mile. 



SPAIN 327 

a good quail season in Spain depends largely on the energy with which 
the Governor of the province of Cadiz prevents the netting of the 
weary birds on their first arrival on the coast. Properly protected 
for a day or two, until they recover, the quail soon spread over the 
country. 

Woodcock are found in winter throughout the country, and in 

hard winters good bags are made in Guipuzcoa. In 

o • ■ -li Woodcock 

1097-b it is said that as many as 17,000 were ex- . _ . 

1 and Snipe. 

ported from here to France. Snipe are more numer- 
ous in the southern provinces than in the north, but I cannot see 
that either bird calls for special note. 

I doubt, however, whether there is any finer duck-shooting to be 
had in Europe than at Daimiel, near Manzaneres, in La Mancha. 

The lagoons are rented at high figures by a few sports- 

& & . ■ J ^ Wild Fowl. 

men, and there are four shoots in the year, to each of 

which each tenant is allowed to invite one guest. The keepers 

manage the shooting admirably. You have to get punted to your 

post before daylight, and; the shooting lasts for about three hours 

in the morning, with a further hour's flighting in the evening. Eight 

guns have been known to bag close on a thousand head of mallard 

and teal, with other kinds of duck, and one year three swans were 

shot, though these birds are rare in Spain. The late king once 

got 381 duck to his own gun in three hours and a half. After 

Daimiel, the most famous wild-fowl resort is La Albufera, in Valencia, 

where very large bags are made in the rice-fields. The Coto de 

Onana, near Sevilla, also gives excellent duck-shooting, and in fact 

nearly every river and marsh may be drawn for duck in winter. Wild 



328 



SPORT IN EUROPE 



geese abound at the same season in Andalusia. The Comtesse de 
Paris has some excellent goose-shooting at Villamanrique, near 
Sevilla, and numbers of these fine birds are shot on two islands in the 
same locality, known as "las islas mayor y menor," the larger and 
smaller islands. Immense flocks of ceese are seen in hard weather 




H..M. THE LATE KING (DON ALFONSO XII.) AND Ills SHOOTING PARTY 



on the marsh flats, but the birds are by no means easy to approach 
in the ordinary way. 1 remember taking part in a successful goose- 
shoot on "la isla mayor," in which seven of us arrived at six in the 
morning. The keeper, in whose charge we were, then rode off, 
leaving us for about three-quarters of an hour, at the end of which 
time he rode back with the welcome news that there were numbers 



SPAIN 329 

of geese no great distance away. He then placed us in line, about 
a couple of hundred yards apart, in holes in the ground, in which 
we had to lie fiat on our backs on waterproof rugs until the birds 
flew over. Having made which arrangements, he started off alone 
on horseback to beat for us, which he did to such good purpose 
that by half-past eight we had thirteen geese. And we should have 
had a good many more, only it must be confessed that there were 
a great many clean misses, as the position is not an ideal one to shoot 
from. Moreover, the tendency is to aim too far back, as the birds 
seem to fly so much more heavily than is really the case. The 
professional goose-shooters of Coria del Rio have a big reputation, 
but the aforementioned places are the best in Spain. 

I am asked to say something of the fishing in my country, but 
I can only add a few notes in the sad knowledge that poaching 
has done even more harm here than to shooting. There is certainly 
crood sea-fishino- on the , coast, and there are barbel in almost all 
the rivers, those of the; Tagus running to a large size, and freely 
taking a hook baited with a grasshopper or with the entrails of 
a quail or similar bird. But I imagine that it is of salmon and 
trout that I am expected to write in a sporting book, and the 
opportunities for catching either of these fish are somewhat rare. 

There are, it is true, salmon and sea-trout in many of the northern 

rivers, and they take the fly readily, but excessive 

poachinQ- ruins the fishing. With trout the case is _ 

r to & Trout. 

somewhat more hopeful. The province of Segovia 

is particularly favoured by trout, and there are excellent streams in 



33 o SPORT IN EUROPE 

the great pine forests of Valsain, near San Ildefonso, belonging 

to the royal domain. At San Ildefonso itself the royal family has 
a breeding establishment under the supervision of Victor Vicht, an 
Alsatian, and the watercourses in the royal gardens are full oi 
trout, which afford capital sport when H.R.H. the Infanta Isabel 
issues invitations to fish there. In the matter of flavour, however, 
it must be confessed that these trout are far inferior to those 
caught at the Pavlar. In the rest of Spain, trout are shockingly 
poached, and few Spaniards seem to have mastered the true art 
of trout-fishing with the dry fly. 

Mr. Larios writes as follows : — 

Excellent sport can be had in the north of Spain with the trout, anil I believe 
also with salmon trout, but I cannot say as much as regards the salmon : and indeed, 
unless the Government makes proper laws and takes urgent measures for the preserva- 
tion of its rivers, the salmon will soon become extinct in Spain. 

As far as I have been able to find out, the salmon exists only in the provinces of 
Asturias and Santander, and, though there are salmon-trout in the rivers of Galicia, 
I believe salmon is not to be found there. I suppose this is owing to the higher 
temperature of its waters than those of Asturias and Santander, the" waters of which 
descend from the snow peaks of the Picos de Europa. In Asturias the rivers Nalon, 
Navia and Sella contain salmon, and in Santander the Deva, Nansa, Besana, and Ason, 
and the Bidassoa, the boundary between Spain and France. 

Owing to the enormous amount of netting that goes on at all times of the year, 
both at the mouths of rivers and in the deep pools, especially during the summer when 
the rivers are low, and, most of all, to the dams constructed across them for iron, soap, 
and electric-light works, flour mills, etc., without proper sluices or salmon-ladders (such 
as there are being netted across), not to mention the palisades purposely built Dp to 
net the salmon, the fish have little or no chance of getting up the rivrrs, except when 
there are very heavy floods. I have watched them vainly trying to jump some of tin se 
insurmountable barriers. The waters of the rivers in Spain belong to the State, and 
are therefore public; but the river Ason is preserved by an angling club at Gibaja, 



SPAIN 331 

and in some years I believe its members have had very fair sport. The best time for 
salmon fishing is from the end of March to May. A long cane rod and a large primitive 
fly are used by the local fishermen there. Some of these throw a line beautifully with 
a sort of underhand cast ; they also fish a good deal with Mayfly and worm. 

The trout abounds in all rivers in the north of Spain. My experience is limited 
to the provinces of Asturias and Santander, where I had very fair sport in the spring of 
1899 on the rivers already mentioned. My best day was on one of the tributaries of the 
river Deva, when I caught about forty trout, weighing on an average half a pound. 

Such, then, is a very brief outline of present-day sport in Spain. 
It may be found that I have said overmuch of the large royal 
and other preserves, and too little, on the other hand, of the sport 
that is open to all, foreigners included. In some measure my friend 
Mr. Larios has remedied this. And, apart from the fact that Messrs. 
Chapman and Buck have exhausted this aspect of the subject for 
English readers, it seemed to me that the private shooting would 
give the best idea of the sporting capabilities of the country, and 
I wrote of what I knew. 



SWITZERLAND 






H ts 



SWITZERLAND 

By DR. EUGENE PITARD 

I.— SHOOTING 

f N the course of the present century more than one species of 

* animal has disappeared from Switzerland. Mention may be 

made of the beaver, by no means very rare in the land _.. 

3 } Disappear- 

in bygone centuries, the wolf and the ibex. Nor are ance of 

such disappearances remarkable when we consider the ^ 

increase of roads, the railways that even climb the mountain slopes, 

the invasion of Alpine regions by the people, the parcelling out of 

lands, the levelling of forests, the ever-increasing spread of cultivation. 

To these causes of the extinction of several species must in fairness 

be added the liberties afvMaie chase in Switzerland, where, with the 

mild restriction of taking out a licence, everyone is free. 

Few indeed are the estates privately preserved. The system 

of preservation has been fully discussed in many of the cantons, 

but invariably negatived. The fact is democratic governments do 

not present auspicious conditions for the maintenance of game. 

On the other hand, most laudable efforts for protecting the game 

and restocking certain districts have for the last thirty years been 

made in Switzerland by the Confederation, by the cantons, by the 

sporting associations, by the Alpine Club and by private individuals. 

335 



336 SPORT IN EUROPE 

The federal law of 1S75, in addition to enacting severe penalties 
fur poaching, prescribed the formation of open reserves, in which 
shooting is altogether prohibited during a period that ma) vary 
according to the region and the conditions more or less favourable 

to restocking. Thus the law protected the chamois, which had 
hitherto been butchered in the most savage fashion, as well .is 
marmots, Alpine hares, capercailzie, etc. All these species have 
re-established themselves as common. The stag, which seemed to 
have deserted our country, has returned to it and prospers, particularly 
in the Jura. The roedeer is plentiful in certain parts of that range ; 
wild boar are not rare in sundry districts in the north of Switzerland, 
notably in Argovie. Unfortunately, despite innumerable endeavours, 
we have not yet succeeded in reintroducing the ibex. This, the 
proudest of our mountain beasts, seems to have disappeared from 
our hills for ever. 

Shooting in Switzerland is a sport to which a great number "I 
folks are addicted. As I said above, there are few lands urn let- 
protection, in consequence of which the great shoots or battues 
scarcely exist. There is in fact nothing corresponding in this respect 
with the practice in other lands, and only in the canton of Argovie 
could such a mode of shooting be found. The most interesting and 
at the same time the most uncertain shooting in Switzerland is that 
of the mountains. It is, however, somewhat difficult sport. To 
enjoy it without the need of first knowing the country ami its people, 
the stranger would do well to put himself in touch with professional 
hunters. The ordinary mountain guides, too, almost without excep 
tion hunters by profession, would also be of great use to him. The 



SWITZERLAND 337 

chamois is the chief rame of the mountains, and as this animal is 
protected in the prescribed districts, it is necessary before setting 
out on an expedition to learn the localities in which it may be shot. 
Foreigners wishing to visit Switzerland for sporting purposes are 
placed under precisely the same restrictions as native sportsmen. 
In the majority of the cantons they can, conforming of course to 
the conditions established by law, procure a shooting licence. In 
cantons like that of Argovie, where the shooting is preserved, a 
foreigner would of course require an invitation from an owner. I 
know, for instance, that the proprietor of the hotels at Rheinfelden, 
M. Dietschy, who owns one of the finest roe preserves in all 
Switzerland, issues permits to a number of sportsmen to visit his 
preserves. 

The conditions under which shooting must be practised in 
Switzerland are fixed by the federal law of 1875, which restricts 
the general season between 1st September and 15th December, or 
31st December for preserved shootings. The laws of the different 
cantons attempt, according" ;t'o the tastes of the various legislators, 
greater severity ; they cannot certainly achieve less. The above 
limit indicated for the general season is, however, closed in favour 
of certain species. Thus the pursuit of the chamois and marmot 
as well as of the red and roe deer of the higher regions, is restricted 
to the month of September.* 

Shooting of all kinds is prohibited in the spring months. In 
winter-time shooting is permitted from boats on the lakes, but gunners 

* The employment of dogs and repeating arms is forbidden, as also the capture or 
destruction of females or fawns of the year, 
z 



338 SPORT IN EUROPE 

must not land on the shores. And as an example of how much 
more severe the restrictions imposed by the cantonal authorities 
can be than the federal law, it is sufficient to mention that the 
canton of Fribourg allows the general shooting of chamois during 
one week only! According to the district, shooting may be forbidden 
either wholly or partly. Thus, during the year 1899, the canton 
of Neuchatel prohibited the chase of the roe altogether; the canton 
of Vaud forbade the shootin<>- of the red deer and marmot throughout 

o D 

the canton, and that of the roe in certain localities; the canton of 
Berne closed the shooting of chamois and marmot from 1st January 
to 30th September. 

In short, there is no uniformity of game laws in the country. 
Only the limit fixed by federal law (1st September to 15th December) 
is kept all round, and before commencing operations the foreign 
sportsman would be well advised to seek information. It is not 
even possible to lay down exact dates of the close times in one 
particular canton, for shooting may be allowed one year, limited in 
its duration the next, or indeed prohibited altogether the third 
The cost of licences also varies according to the canton and in 
proportion to the number of dogs employed. 

Only harriers are recognised as indigenous to the country, 

constituting Swiss breeds, for there are no really indigenous setti 

The various breeds, which 1 shall now specify, are used 
Sporting . . , , , . 

Doe-s throughout the country, but ol course there are 

noticeable preferences and cases of local priority. 

Thus the Swiss harrier is particularly esteemed in the east, as in 

the Orisons, in various parts of which these dogs are bred; the 



SWITZERLAND 



339 



Lucerne breed is preferred in central Switzerland, the Jura variety 
in the western districts. Very few sportsmen pay any attention to 
preserving" the purity of the race. Of recent years, however, breeders 
have taken greater pains to diminish certain harmful crosses, and 
the various dog shows have been of much use in this direction. 

I. The Swiss Harrier (Briqtiei Suisse). — This is one of the 
oldest and most widely distributed dogs in the country. Its coat 
is yellow and white, moderately dressed, the head rather light. Its 
height is medium, the largest standing about 20 in. This hound is 




THE LUCERNE HARRIER 
Proprie'taire : M. Gribi, a Berthsud, laure'at d'Exposilion 



34° 



SPORT IN EUROPE 




THE BERNE HARRIER 
Proprigtaire : M. Gribi, a Berthsud, laureal d'Bx] 

used for fox, hare, roedeer, and even for chamois. It is bred chiefly 
in the Grisons. There is a short-haired variety, but it serins to 
be little in vogue. 

II. The Lucerne Harrier {Chien courant) [Luzemer Laufhund). 
— The coat of this hound resembles closely that of the dogs of 
Gascony, but the head is lighter, and the ears lie flat, instead of 
being turned back. The coat is iron-grey or steely blue, with a 



SWITZERLAND 



34i 



few patches, and the skin is striped with black. Some examples 
have the head and paws pale yellow. This is an admirable hound, 
used for the same game as the Swiss briquet. It is met with more 
particularly in the centre of the country. 

III. The Berne Harrier. — This dog is attractive in appearance 
by reason of the hanging - ears. It has three prevailing colours. 
The under side of the tail is edged and marked with black, the 
ears and sometimes part of the tail are flame-coloured. This is a 
dog of stout build, with the thickest 
coat of all Swiss doQS. It o-ives 
tongue loudly. 

IV. The Argovie Harrier. — 
This breed is heavy and powerful. 
It is indeed the heaviest of all Swiss 
breeds. The coat may be either 
red, black and flame, or uniformly 
yellow, brown, or reddish, brown. 
Sometimes the rump is black, with 
white markings. 

V. The Jura Harrier (Bru- 
neau).— This is a dog of lighter laur&lt d ' E *p° s!ti °" 

build than the preceding. It has a fine coat, and is the most rustic. 
of all Swiss breeds. It has also great staying powers and is very 
keen on the trail, bein°" used for roedeer, hare, or fox. It is above 

o 

all most serviceable in places where the snow lies thick on the 
ground. The coat is black or reddish, in some rather more yellow. 
M. Gindraux, keeper of the kennels at Geneva, a great connoisseur 




THE ARGOVIE HARRIER 
Proprietaire : M. Gindraux, directeur du Chenil, Geneve 



342 SPORT IN EUROPE 

in this breed, is of opinion that it presents analogies with the St. 
Hubert. In all probability it is in that direction that we must look 
for its ancestors. This is the dog most widely established in 
the western districts of Switzerland, in the Bernese, Neuchatel, ami 




THE JURA HAKRIKR 
Propriiiaire : M. Gindraux, dirccteui du Chenil, C.enivc, laur&xt d'Kxposiiion 

Yaudois Jura. There is not, so it is said, a finer breed for sport in 
that region. 

VI. The Tiiurgovie Harrier. — Although a few rare specimens 
of this dog still show up at the exhibitions, the breed stems to be 
disappearing. It is a strong, muscular dog, sufficiently heavy for 
hunting the red deer and boar. 

I have already mentioned the absence of truly indigenous Swiss 



SWITZERLAND 



343 



setters. Almost all the dogs used in this way are of foreign stock, 
mostly English. In the cantons of Vaud and Neuchatel, it is true, 
there exists a breed peculiar to those cantons, bearing some re- 
semblance to the French spaniel, but it is on the decrease. This 
is to be regretted, for the animal is of great use. Its coat is white 
to chestnut, the hair is not very long, the head is light. The dog 
is most knowing". 

As for the bassets employed in underground work, they are for 
the most part of German origin (Dachshund), but they do not in 
Switzerland employ the large basset as they do in France. 

There is no method of pursuing Swiss game except by shooting. 
Hunting, so greatly esteemed in larger countries, has here no 

existence. Battues, for reasons already stated, of roe- 

, , , r r ., , . , r Methods of 

deer, hare, and fox are feasible in the canton of ot _ ,. 

Shooting. 

Argovie, and this method is likewise practised in the 

canton of Bale-Campagne, which has adopted the same system of 

preservation as Argovie^ and in Bale-Ville, where, however, the 

available territory is very' limited. In sundry mountain districts 

the chamois is also driven at times, but the method is viewed 

with little favour by true sportsmen, who regard it as a low form 

of sport. 

It is interesting and convenient to classify the game of the 

country on a Q-eoQ-raphical basis : the rame of the „ „ . 

) to a v & Game of the 

mountain, of the plain, and of the marshes. As re- Mountains, 

gards the first, however, it is necessary to bear in mind Pl ains ' an d 

Swamps, 
the distinction between the Alps and the Jura, for there 

are species which inhabit the Alps, but are found in no part 



344 SPORT IN EUROPE 

whatever of the Jura, as for instance, the chamois, the marmot, the 
Alpine hare, and the blackcock. 

It is in the mountains that we may look for the most interesting 
game. Of the chamois, red and roe deer, wild hoar, marmot, and 
Alpine and common hares, I shall now offer a few particulars in 
rapid review. 

Together with the sta<>\ the chamois is the most noble game of 

the country. There was always great slaughter of chamois in certain 

of the cantons, Grisons and Valais for example, and at 
Chamois. 

one time it looked as if the animal would disappear 

altogether. Fortunately the establishment of closed areas has latterly 

restored the animal in numbers. The pursuit of this ruminant 

is the most uncertain in all Switzerland. It is shot in almost all 

the Alpine districts. The greatest number are killed in the Grisons 

(1,700 head in the year 1886), owing to the fact that the nature 

of the mountain range is peculiarly favourable to the increase of 

this animal. 

The superb stag, which until the last century flourished in various 

cantons, had all but disappeared. A few, it is true, were met with 

in the eastern portion of the Grisons, particularly in the 
Red Deer. / 

Prattigau. They came by way of the mountains of 

Vorarlberg and from the principality of Lichtenstein. Since the 

year 1893 they have been seen in the Vaudois Jura, and since that 

time, thanks to Government support, in that canton the species has 

prospered. These animals spread rapidly towards the north, and 

have been seen as far as the canton of Argovie. They arc: likewise 

met with in the cantons of Berne and Fribourg. Shootin- red deer 



SWITZERLAND 



345 



is still prohibited in the Jura, but there is some ground for assuming 

that the prohibition will shortly be removed. Every year this animal 

is shot in the Grisons. 

The roedeer has increased greatly of late years, and is now met 

with in almost every canton. In Valais, however, it is not found. In 

the Jura, on the other hand, it is not rare. It abounds 

Roedeer. 

in the preserved shootings of Argovie, where it is 

sometimes driven, as in Germany, but this method is forbidden. 

The boar is only resident in the canton of Argovie, but it is 

met with every year throughout almost the entire 

Wild Boar. 
range of the Jura, and is also frequently shot in the 

cantons of Berne, Soleure, Bale-Campagne, and Neuchatel. 

The marmot is plentiful enough in those portions of Switzerland 

which lie above an altitude of about 5,000 feet It is 

Marmot, 
among the animals which have benefited considerably 

by the establishment of closed districts. It occurs at altitudes as 

high as 10,000 feet. , 

The Alpine, white, or variable hare occurs in the same localities 

as the marmot. It must be borne in mind, however, 

Alpine Hare. 
that both occur, so far as Switzerland is concerned, 

in the Alps only. 

To the foregoing may be added the brown bear, which is shot 
every year in the remoter valleys of the Grisons, particularly in 
the Lower Engadine. A number of carnivora, as the fox, marten, 
and otter, may also be shot in these regions, but they hardly come 
under the head of game. There is no otter hunting as in England. 

There are four sporting birds of the mountain district which I 



346 SPORT IN EUROPE 

must now enumerate. These are the capercailzie, the blackcock, 
the mountain partridge and the ptarmigan. A note is given on 
each of these. 

The capercailzie, unfortunately rare nowadays, is the finest 

feathered game of our forests. It is found in the pine 
Capercailzie. 

forests at altitudes of 4.000 or 5,000 feet, in both the 

Alps and the Jura. The principal months for shooting it are 

September and October. 

The black grouse must be sought in the limits ot our Alpine 

forests, from 5.000 to 9,000 feet high, but will not be 
Black Grouse. 

found in the fura, where all attempts to establish it 

have proved a failure. 

Like the preceding, the mountain partridge is found only in 

the Alps. It is generally necessary to climb above the 

„ ... main belt of forests, in order to come upon the flocks 

Partridge. ' 

of this partridge, which is difficult to shoot on account 

of its rapid change of locality. In Valais it comes down to the 

edge of the vineyards. 

Like the preceding two birds, the ptarmigan is also found in 

the Alpine ranges only, and on certain mountains it is 
Ptarmigan. 

by no means uncommon. It is a true bird of the 

higher ranges, passing its existence at altitudes of 5,000 to 10,000 

feet. 

In a country in which the soil is so rough, it is not to be 

expected that shooting in the lowlands would give much sport 

The species that, properly speaking, constitute the game ><\ such 



SWITZERLAND 347 

localities, are little more than the common hare and grey partridge 

and quail. To these may be added one or two kinds, The Plains 

as the snipe and woodcock, found equally in the hills an " Marshes. 

or lowlands. There is here no space to enumerate all the birds 

of passage that may on occasion be shot. 

Although really plentiful only in the preserved grounds, the 

hare cannot be regarded as rare in any part of the 

& ' v Hare. 

country. 

Associations of sportsmen have after long efforts succeeded in 

establishing the grey partridge in many districts. The 

Partridge, 
bird is found in almost every part of the plains, and 

is in fact the only resident game bird there. 

Quails are becoming scarcer and scarcer. The terrible slaughter 

of these birds in Egypt certainly does not conduce to an increase 

in the numbers that annually visit our land. Thanks, 

1 Quail. 

however, to the initiative of the Diana, a society of 

Swiss sportsmen, international arrangements are being negotiated 

for an agreement between Switzerland and the neighbouring 

countries to put a stop to the passage of truck-loads of quails from 

southern Europe. In this will lie the only hope of staying the 

extermination of the bird. September is the favourite month for 

quail shooting. 

The pheasant has been introduced into the canton of Argovie, 

and has spread from thence into that of Soleure. In all 

Pheasant. 
districts in which sportsmen are not numerous the 

bird has done well. 

The woodcock is, like the quail, disappearing. Older sportsmen 



348 SPORT IN EUROPE 

are loud in their lamentations over the scarcity of a bird once so 

plentiful that a good shot could kill his seventy or 
Woodcock. 

eighty birds in the course of a season. The bird is 

found throughout the Jura from about the end of the first week 

in October, descending later on to the plains, where it ma) be shot 

as late as December. 

The swamps and lakes are visited yearly by large flocks oi 

migratory birds, among which several are reckoned fair game for 

the sportsman. Mention may be made of the rails and 

... crakes, the coot and the water-hen. The snipes, which 

and Lakes. 

arrive last of all, towards the beginning of November, 
are equally characteristic of the marshes and the neighbouring lands. 
A score or so of species of duck frequent the lakes, and geese are 
sometimes killed there as well, formerly, before the connection of 
the waters of the Jura, these fowl were found on the lakes, par- 
ticularly in Neuchatel and Berne, in considerable numbers, but they 
are nowadays far more scarce. Among the sportsman's duck are 
the common wild duck, which breeds and winters as well all over 
the country, the pintail, the shoveller, the wigeon. the teal, and 
garganey. These water-fowl occur on all the Swiss lakes, and not 
a few among them also affect the larger swamps, as for instance 
those in Bas Yalais. It would indeed be easy to add to the li>t. 
for, thanks to the abundance of water in our country, the variety 
is considerable. In the marshes shooting is usually done over do 
on the lakes it is customary to shoot from a boat, with either shoulder 
gun or punt gun. In this last method a small screw-propelled boat 
is often used, but rowing craft are also in favour. On some of the 



SWITZERLAND 349 

lakes, as Neuchatel, very short paddles are used in this work, and 
the boat is known as a loquette. 

All manner of weapons are in fact used in shooting both in the 
plains and in the mountains. Military guns are prohibited, but the 
mountaineers use them all the same, having had them 
from the time when the Confederation sold cheap the TT H 
old Peabody and Watterli guns of the soldiers. A 
number of sportsmen use the three-barrelled carbine, which has a 
rifled barrel for chamois, but it is a costly weapon. 

Switzerland has its gamekeepers in both the closed and preserved 
districts. In the former case the keepers are employed by the 

Confederation or by the cantons, and have no dis- 

. , . . c ™ . . . r , Keepers and 

tmo'uishino- uniform. 1 heir duties in some of the „ .. 
° to Poaching. 

mountainous regions are hard, particularly in the bad 
season, owing to the vastness of the territory each has to supervise. 
The keepers on preserved estates are of course employed by the 
game - preservers themselves. In every canton the forest guards 
and police are also expected- to take cognisance of offences against 
the game laws. Poaching, while nowhere very serious, goes on in 
every canton. One fact that must be placed to the credit of the 
poachers is that, with the exception perhaps of Tessin, where we 
find traces of the obnoxious methods of Italian poachers, our poachers 
are not fond of using the leash. As a rule, too, it may be said 
that Swiss gamekeepers are not so exposed as in other countries 
to much violence from the poachers. Unfortunately it must be 
admitted that there have been cases of murder by these outlawed 
hunters, but they are certainly rare. 



350 SPORT IN EUROPE 

II.— FISHING 

Switzerland has mure than fifty indigenous species (it lish, but 
these are not equally distributed in all the lakes and rivers, some 

being met with only in the Rhine and its tributaries, others only 
in the lake and river of Ticino. And only about ten of these fifty 
kinds are of any interest to the sportsman angling for pleasure and 
not for profit. As the majority of Swiss rivers form lakes, the fish 
found in the rivers also occur as a rule in the lakes of the same 
basin. An exception to this rule is, however, found in the Rhine 
above the Falls of Schaffhausen, from which the salmon is absent. 
As regards the Rhone and the Lake of Geneva (Leman). the 
following remarks must be held to apply to that portion situated 
in Switzerland, that is to say, above the falls of the Rhone 
(Bellegarde). There is fishing in all the rivers and lakes, and the 
variations in method concern rather the professional. Amateurs 
employ as a rule the towing-line, the float, or the gorge-bait. 

The fishing is conducted subject to the federal law of [888, which, 
in the first place, prohibits all set lines, as well as any stop-net 
hindering the free movements of the fish more than half-way across 
the stream. The prohibition is further extended to embrace all 
manner of poisonous or explosive materials designed to stupefy the 
fish, as well as spring traps, harpoons, fire-arms, or anything 
of the kind able to wound or kill the fish. Certain kinds of nets 
are also specified as forbidden, and there is a clause against the 
establishment of new stationary fisheries. 

As with the shooting, however, the different cantons legislate 



SWITZERLAND 



35 1 



specially by way of supplementing this general Act to suit their 
own special conditions, and there may even be found within one 
and the same canton widely different laws affecting several lakes 
or rivers. As an instance of these cantonal regulations, it may be 
mentioned that, whereas the trout is protected by the federal law 
from October ist to December 31st, trout fishing is allowed in the 
rivers of Neuchatel up to February 28th. 

The following are some particulars of the fish that will chiefly 
interest the angler, but it may be remarked that the trout is by far 
the most important of these in the estimation of Swiss fishermen. 

The salmon may be taken in Switzerland by the artificial fly or 

spoon-bait, and occurs in the Rhine below the Schaffhausen Falls, 

as well as in the Aar. It is to be feared, however, that 

Salmon. 
those who visit the country specially for this fishing will 

soon be undeceived. There are old-established salmon fisheries in 

various spots along the Rhine ; and quite close to the Hotel Dietsche, 

already mentioned in this article, are two that belong to the proprietor 

of the hotel. n « > 

Of late years more than one species of foreign trout has been 

introduced into Swiss waters, and with varying success. The rainbow 

trout may be mentioned among those that have done 

Trout, 
best. The indigenous trout is found in almost every 

water in Switzerland, in the mountain becks, as well as in certain 

Alpine lakes fully 6,500 to 8,000 feet above sea-level. By federal law, 

as already remarked, the trout is protected from October ist to 

December 31st, but attention must be paid to the various local 

regulations in the different cantons. 



352 SPORT IN EUROPE 

In the lakes the trout may be taken on a silk line, towing a small 
fish or a spoon or other spinning bait, a method that invariably answers 
in the lakes of Geneva, Neuchatel, Zurich, and Constance. The 
licence for fishing in this way has to be paid to the State, amounting 
as a rule to thirty francs a year. It goes without saying that, on the 
larger lakes, some places are more adapted to this style ol fishing 
than others. 

In the rivers, where the angler will find the most beautiful scenery, 
the rod is usually employed. The bait, which depends largely on the 
state of the sky and water, may be either a fly, a small spinner, or 
some such natural bait as worms or gnats. It may also be accessary 
to change the bait more than once during the day, but this no doubt 
applies equally to the pursuit of trout in other countries. How-nets 
and trammels are also very widely used, but these are not within the 
province of sport. Trout are plentiful in most of the rivers, particu- 
larly where there are few works and factories on the banks. In some 
of the lakes they reach a large size, and trout weighing fifty pounds 
have been taken from the Lake of Geneva. Some streams and rivers 
are preserved by the owners of hotels, the fishing being in such cases 
available only to those who use the hotels. 

The pike is indigenous to most Swiss rivers and lakes, and has 

been introduced in the Inn. It is at its best in the lakes, particularh 

at the edges in the deeper water. Some lakes are more 
Pike. . s ' 

noted for their pike than others, and among these 

mention may be made of the lakes of Zurich, Neuchitel, Morat ; 
while even such small sheets of water as the Lake of Joux, or the 
black Lake in Fribourg, contain pike in great number. 



SWITZERLAND 353 

The close time for pike corresponds with that established for 

the trout, and indeed, on somewhat rouoher and less careful lines, the 

methods may be broadly indicated as identical. Among the less 

sporting" appliances used in pike fishing are the trimmer and the 

torchon, a floating bundle of reeds, expanding like a fan the moment 

the fish seizes the hook and pulls the line. Pike are also caught 

on set lines, baited with a live gudgeon or other small fish. 

Char are found in every lake and river, and are 

Char, 
caught by the same methods as trout. 

The Rhine itself contains no grayling, though the fish is found not 

only in many of its tributaries, but also in the lakes of 

Grayling, 
the same system. The fish is also absent from the 

Doubs, the Inn, and the Ticino. It is caught with the same baits 

as used for trout. 

The eel occurs in almost every river throughout the country, with 

the exception of the waters of the Rhone (in which it may be found 

accidentally) and those of the Inn. Among the waters 

T>.\ 1 , . Eel. 

in which eel fishing is extensively practised, I may 

mention the Lake of Neuchatel and the Thiele Canal, which joins its 

waters and those of Bienne ; the Lake of Bienne itself, and the lakes 

of Zurich and Constance. Cloudy days are considered the best, and 

the eels are taken on set lines baited with scraps of meat or with 

small fishes. 

The burbot now occurs in every basin, for this destroyer of fish 

spawn has unfortunately been introduced into the waters 

' Burbot, 

of the Inn. It is caught, like the eel, on set lines baited 

with all manner of offal. 
2 A 



354 



SPORT IN KUROPK 



The carp is also found in all the rivers, except the Inn. ( arp 

fishing does not, however, attract many, for the fish is 
Carp. 

an exceedingly difficult one to catch. 

The perch is ubiquitous, and perch fishing is attended by wonderful 

results. It is practised with the bow-net. with the set line, and with 

the towing-line, the bait being a spinner, a worm, or a 
Perch. 

gentle. The plumb-line is also used, but is strictly 

forbidden in all the cantons. 

A fish, so interesting by reason of its size, its habits, and its haunts. 

that it can scarcely be passed without mention, is the great wels, 

a siluroid, that occurs in the lakes of Neuchatel, Bienne 
Wels. 

and Morat, sometimes in the Rhine also, and in the 

Lake of Constance. It is most plentiful, and runs to greatest 
individual size in the Lakes of Constance and Mor.it, reaching 
a length of from 8 to io feet, ami a weight of 1 50 to 200 lbs. 
This, the largest fish of Switzerland, is ordinarily taken on fixed 
lines or in the trammel, but its capture is accidental, for the in- 
ferior quality of its flesh debars it from being tin- object of special 
pursuit. 

In addition to the foregoing', there are a number of so-called 

o o 

"white fish," less interesting to the angler, who can fish for them 
without licence, such as bleak and roach. In this connection mention 
may be made of the barbel, abundant in the basin of the Rhine and 
caught on the rod with all manner of baits, such as bread-paste, ch< 
and the like. These "white fish" may be regarded as the last 
resource of the fisherman, but their capture, if simple, is often not 
devoid of interest. The professional fisheries, tarried out on a -rand 



SWITZERLAND 35S 

scale on some of the lakes, with nets of great extent, are wide of the 
subject under notice and may therefore be dismissed. 



It remains, in conclusion, to add a few remarks likely to be of use 
to the angler visiting Switzerland for purposes of sport. 

In many of the cantons it is possible for private individuals to rent 
lakes or rivers, or parts thereof ; at any rate this can be done in the 
cantons of Berne, Fribourg-, Valais, and Zug\ The conditions and 
price of such rental necessarily vary in the different cantons, and the 
rights are usually put up to auction, the sale assigning them to the 
highest bidder. In the opinion of those qualified to judge, this system 
is thought to be favourable to the stock of fish. 

The best season for fishing is, speaking broadly and from the 
standpoint of the amateur, in the summer months. During the 
summer holidays angling is at its height, though for the matter of 
that it can be followed almost all the year round. It is forbidden only, 
as a rule, during the months of November, December, and January, 
that is to say, during the spawning" time of the trout. 

Nets are also largely used on both rivers and lakes, particularly 
the cast-net and trammel, but these will not interest the visitor. 

As regards the boats in use on the lakes, these vary accord- 
ing to the water and according- to the fishing. For dragging the 
bait astern, a keel-boat is required, heavy enough not to overturn 
in the water ; but for still-fishing a flat-bottomed punt, of the kind 
known on the Swiss lakes as canardiei es, or liquettcs, or loquettcs, will 
be found preferable. On some sheets of water, as the lakes of Zug 



356 SPORT IN EUROPE 

and the Four Cantons, there may still be found old-fashioned boats 
dug out of tree trunks, as used li\ the former inhabitants. 1 mention 
these only as a curiosity. 

The pursuit of crayfish is also very amusing, the crustaceans being 
taken in small hoop-nets baited with meat. This practice is likewise 
regulated by federal, as well as by cantonal, law. 



THE BRITISH ISLES 



*M 



*M 




'*• 35'' 




ROD AND GUN 



THE BRITISH ISLES 

By LORD GRANVILLE GORDON 



J T seems to me mere waste of time to give a detailed account of 
-*■ the close seasons, and the different kinds of game found in 
different parts of the British Isles, for surely everyone who takes 
up this book must know that grouse and deer come from the moors 
of Yorkshire and the forests of Scotland, and that snipe, ducks, 
plover and woodcock are found all over the country. 

In fact, nearly all the wandering species of European water-fowl 

359 



360 SPORT IN EUROPE 

visit the British Isles at some period or another of the year; and 
how many more members of the feathered tribe are 
R . , migratory than the majority of people think ! When 

the snow lies on the ground at Christmas, which are 
the birds that hop outside the window-sill begging for crumbs or 
some few necessaries of life ? Very few of our many little friends, 
when one comes to think of it. Of course, the crow, with his cousin 
the jackdaw, and his second cousin once removed, the starling, the 
bold little robin, the chattering', irrepressible sparrow, the thrush and 
the blackbird, and, unless we include the game birds and the hawk 
tribe, that is about all. All the tit tribe, the swallows, and the wrens 
have vanished ; and what these creatures of nature have been doing 
for centuries, men have been doing, following their example in com- 
paratively quite recent years, namely wintering South. 

It will be noticed that the birds that remain with us through the 
long winter days are invariably birds that live on at least two distinct 
classes of food. The crow tribe are not particular, as everyone knows; 
the sparrow patronises the stable-yard and the dustbin, where he 
frequently meets his friend, the robin ; while the thrush ami the 
blackbird live on a nice fruit diet through the summer, much to the 
disgust oi the gardener, and during the winter search lor worms. 
Nor is it, I think, widely known how many of these creatures perish 
when a severe winter sets in, and frost binds the ground in her iron 

grip, and all seeds, all herbs and all worms are im- 
In Winter. 

prisoned. We are accustomed to hear people say, 

" How tame all the birds are becoming!", ami they put it down very 

often to their individual system of feeding them from the dining- 



THE BRITISH ISLES 361 

room window ; but, as a rule, despite all the efforts of kindly human 
beings, hunger and despair are driving them closer to the creatures 
they fear most, and, alas ! too often rightly. 

I remember in the great frost some few years ago — I forget the 
exact year — picking up some dead wild ducks on Bembridge golf links, 
starved to death. So severe was the frost that year that Bembridge 
harbour was frozen over and hundreds of fish were killed. Bem- 
bridge, the warmest corner of England, where you can play golf 
when all other courses are frozen! How, I wonder, did the birds 
of Scotland and the northern counties fare at that time ? That was 
the year when I remember hearing from a Scotch gamekeeper that 
the grouse were all off the hills and in the laurel bushes round the 
houses in the low grounds. And I do not think people sufficiently 
comprehend what a terrific loss of life there is among travelling birds 
when a gale springs up and they are blown from their course. 
Millions of woodcock and snipe and all migratory birds have been 
drowned at sea and die in^ this way yearly. The fact is proved by 
the frequent occurrence of 'exhausted birds settling on ships at sea, 
and by the smashing of birds against the glass of a lighthouse on 
some far western point. But perhaps more rapid and mysterious 
are the migratory habits of dead birds. For instance, the grouse 
season commences, as is well known, on the morning of August 12th, 
and the poulterers' shops in London will be found, when they open on 
that morning, to be fully supplied with the dead bodies of grouse. 

But this is a little matter outside my province. However, I think 
the only way to make an article on British sport of possible interest is 
to give my own ideas on the subject. They may not be in accordance 



362 SPORT IN EUROPE 

with those of other people, and, if that be the case, I can only 

apologise and proceed. 

Half a century has passed since the immortal Jorrocks ruse in the 

big room of "The Dragon," in Handley Cross, and proclaimed to the 

sporting assemblage before him that "'Unting was the 

Mr. John sport of kings; the image of war without its guilt, 

Jorrocks on 

British Sports anc ' on 'V five-and-twenty per cent, of its danger. 

It will be remembered by all who have known the 

great Jorrocks — and who has not? — that there was a dinner held 

at "The Dragon," Mr. Jorrocks in the chair, and it was attended 

by several parties connected with different branches of spoil. 

Mr. Jorrocks began all right. The first toast was " The Queen 
and her Stag-hounds." Next came "Racing," then "'Are-hunting 
and the Dotfield 'Arriers," and lastly "Coursing." All these different 
sports were represented at the dinner by enthusiastic followers, who 
were suitably attired in red or green, according" to the particular sport 
they favoured, and Mr. Jorrocks had been carefully warned not to 
offend any of them. He began all right. He praised stag hunting 
as a sport of great "hantiquity." " It was owing to racing," he said. 
" we possessed our superior breed of 'orses." He called " are- unting " 
a "nice, ladylike amusement," and, with regard to coursing, lie ex- 
patiated largely on the merits of " 'are soup." But alas ! alas ! In his 
final effort, when he rose to return thanks for the toast of his health, 
overcome by the fumes of the wine or the love for his own particular 
hobby, he hurled bomb after bomb at the various groups that sup- 
ported the sports he had just so pleasantly alluded to. 

" Talk of stag-'unting," he cried, " might as well unt a hass. See 



THE BRITISH ISLES 363 

a great, walloping beggar blobbin' about the market gardens near 
London, and call that diversion! Puss-'unting is werry well for 
cripples and those that keep donkeys. Coursin' should be made 
felony ! Of all the daft devils under the sun, a greyhound's the 
daftest. And as for racing," said he, "it's only fit for rogues." 

I have quoted Jorrocks — or perhaps rather I ought to say Surtees, 
who modelled and made him — because for one reason I believe that, 
quaint and humorous as were his remarks and opinions, he was in 
the main correct in his views, and, for another reason, I believe the 
utterances of John Jorrocks will dwell in the minds of men centuries 
hence, when all the heaviest or cleverest perorations of politicians are 
lying forgotten and enveloped in dust, shelved in some old vault near 
St. Stephen's. 

But I have quoted Jorrocks for yet another reason, that all sports 
were to him waste of time compared to the hunting of the fox. Not 
that it is possible to compare hunting with fishing, or fishing with 
shooting, although Whyte Melville pauses in one of his poems and 
soliloquises as to the merits 11 df a run with the fox and a run with the 
salmon, and, if I remember rightly, he somewhat hesitatingly gives 
the pride of place to the sport connected with horse and hound. 

Looking back, it surprised me to find that hunting the fox with 

a pack of hounds is a comparatively modern sport, and dates no 

further back than one hundred and fifty years, having 

Fox-hunting, 
apparently rushed into general favour almost at. once. 

Doubtless in the heyday of life, there can be no more exhilarating 

or enchanting feeling than riding behind hounds in a good run. 

Hunting can only be conducted in counties where landowners 



364 SPORT IN EUROPE 

permit hounds and horsemen to cross their fields and enter their 
coverts, and of course it is very oecessarj for a Master oi Fox- 
hounds to keep, if possible, on the right side with everyone. But it 
is doubtful if fox-hunting can long continue in a congested country 
like England. Bad agricultural seasons and barbed wire point to its 
doom. Fox-hunting makes many bitter enemies among farmers in 
a way few sportsmen think of; and so does a branch of sport 
most nearly allied to it. 

Harriers cause far more mischief than people imagine. A hare in- 
variably runs in a ring. Round and round upon one firm, or perhaps a 

couple, go the hounds and the horsemen, breaking the 
Harriers. 

fences, leaving the gates ajar, and churning up the land. 

It is not necessary to point out that the farmer, who in nearly all cas< S 
finds it hard to make both ends meet, is unable to contemplate tin- 
scene with joy. 

Ere we leave the subject of fox-hunting, it is certainly curious to 
note how very differently the fox is appreciated in Scotland ami in 

England. In most districts of Scotland he is shot 

Foxes in , , , , , ., , 

_ ,, . and trapped whenever a chance occurs, while in the 
Scotland. rr 

southern country to shoot or trap a fox would be con- 
sidered little short of murder. Even as I write, a tale reaches me 
from the Midlands of a Scotch farmer who had taken a farm near 
Peterborough and deliberately shot a fox that the Fitzwilliam hounds 
were pursuing at the time. I heard that the man said he had shot 
them in Scotland, and he meant to do so in England : and I also 
heard that the indignation of the other farmers in the district was 
so great that they meant boycotting him in Peterborough Market 



THE BRITISH ISLES 365 

The reason for this is very obvious. In the rocky glens and 
valleys of Scotland the fox is at once a foe to grouse and all game, 
a nuisance to the farmer, and a general pest ; while in England he 
is an animal to be reverenced and indulged all spring and summer, 
to be chased with fierce hatred and bated breath all winter. Some 
of the Scotch deer-forests are crawling with foxes ; and some few 
years ago I saw foxes almost daily in Rannoch Forest, in Perthshire. 
Once I almost lost a fine stag' owing to the brutish behaviour of a 
fox. I had struck my stag " far back," and had he been left alone 
and quiet, he would have lain down and probably given me a chance 
of stalking him and administering the cotip de grace ; but one hour 
followed another, and still he plodded wearily on, whilst the stalker 
and I had difficulty in keeping him in sight. It was getting late in 
the evening when we discovered the reason : a big old fox was after 
him. The fox did not attempt any forcing tactics ; and when at last, 
through our telescopes, we made him out, we could see the poor 
beast of a stag lie down for a few minutes, wearied and distressed, 
and the fox sit a few yards from him, watching him serenely and 
intently, as much as to say, "All right, my boy, you'll be mine soon." 
And then the stag would rise and plod heavily on, loathing and 
fearing the sly devil behind him, that always followed and dogged 
his footsteps. 

I got that stag in the last gleam of evening ; and I think I would 
have had a go at the fox too, but I never saw him after I fired the 
shot that killed the stag. 

Sometimes cubs are caught and transported to the fox-hunting 
districts of England where they may have become scarce, but it 



366 SPORT IN EUROPE 

seems doubtful whether they ever turn out to be stout-hearted, strong- 
running foxes. 

The fox that gives the best run is the old dog, the woodland- 
bred fellow that in the early spring has wandered many miles from 
his haunt in search of a dainty fowl or an interview 

_ with the gray Miss Vixen; and lo, having lain down 

Foxes. ° ■ & 

for a short siesta, there falls on his ear the deep note 
of his dreaded enemy — the hound — and the sharp twang of that 
awful instrument — the horn — and he foots it with all speed, straight 
as a bow-line, for his home in the snug drain under the hill, eight, 
or maybe ten, miles distant. 

But how seldom do these old varmints get pursued ! .Age and 
knowledge have «iven them understanding and cunning, and at the 
first cry of the human voice, at the first whimper of the hounds, at 
the first note of the horn, they are on their feet (ought I to say 
"pads"?) and slinking off, whilst poor Miss Vixen and Master Cub of 
a season's growth wander round the covert wondering what course 
to pursue. 

Stag-hunting can be traced back three hundred years, and was 

surely in the early days a finer sport, for many reasons, than the 

fox-hunting of to-day. One reason is that the stag is 
Stag-hunting. 

a fleeter and more powerful animal ; and there is a 

famous run on record, in the time of Charles II., which consisted of 

a seventy-mile point. 

But again, over-population, or civilisation, including, as it does, 

public rights to everything (with barbed wire thrown in), has almost 

exterminated this once grand sport ; and only on Exmoor Forest 



"-M 



THE BRITISH ISLES 367 

and in Lorna Doone's sweet valley can now be heard the deep 

note of the deerhound in pursuit of the wild stag. True we can 

still pursue him in what might be described as a pickled state with 

horns shorn off, around the purlieus of Windsor, or in one or two 

other places, but, pleasant though the run may actually be, the 

" sport " cannot stand close investigation, for sport consists in the 

strategy and skill of man in pursuing and capturing a wild animal. 

It loses all its charm and all its poetry when the game is first, as 

it were, tethered. 

There is one other form of hunting that flourishes to some extent 

throughout the summer months in almost every part of England and 

Ireland, and has a small but enthusiastic following, and 

that is the hunting of the otter. I must say with regard . 

& J to hunting. 

to this form of sport my experiences are unfortunate, 

for on the few occasions on which I have gone otter-hunting I have 

not had the luck to find an otter. 

I remember renting a beautiful little river near Kenmare, in Ire- 
land, which teemed with' outers, and there, with an old farmer called 
Sweeney and his two scared and tattered cur dogs, many a time 
have I had an exciting chase after an otter, but it was never my luck 
to get one. Once I stood with a pitchfork over one of the dogs and 
an otter fighting- but I could not strike for fear of killing the do©-, 
and in the end the otter beat us. 

Trapping the otter is an extremely difficult task. He is as wary 
as the fox, and the only chance is to weight the trap and leave it 
loose, so that the otter, plunging into the river on feeling the grip 
of the teeth of the trap, is drowned by the weight ; otherwise, if 



368 SPORT IN EUROPE 

the trap be fixed, the otter will invariably gnaw oil liis foot sooner 

than be captured alive. 

Coursing still leads a struggling existence, but bad opinion of the 

sport seems to have taken hold of the mind of the British public. 

It seems a short time since coursing was in full swing 
Coursing;. 

at Kempton Park, and hares frolicked round the late 

Mr. Hyde's house in the Park as plentifully as cats in Berkeley 
Square ; but public interest in the sport has waned ami died out. 
Thinking it over, and wondering why coursing should have so 
degenerated and lost its hold on a sporting community, I am forced 
to the conviction that the public has gradually become disgusted 
and annoyed, believing that the only animal in the contest that occa- 
sionally was "trying" was the hare, and this was the only animal 
the public couldn't back ! 

There is still one meeting held each year which attracts consider- 
able attention, and leads to a large quantity of betting, when all tin- 
best greyhounds in the kingdom gather to compete 
for the coveted Blue Ribbon of the Dogs' Derby. 
The Waterloo Cup (for such it is named) is run for 
at Redcar, near Liverpool, in the early spring ; but it must be ad- 
mitted by the greatest coursing enthusiasts that the "game" is not 
what it was. There is no great dinner on the night of the draw, 
where several hundred sportsmen assemble ; there is no Greenall to 
rise and lay his thousands to fifteen ; and there is no Colonel North 
to back his dog to win him a fortune. 

The gun has much to answer for, ami. despite its main advantages, 
1 am inclined to think that the world would have been brighter and 



THE BRITISH ISLES 369 

better if that destructive weapon had never been invented. Any- 
how, the discovery of the gun and the improvement 

Shooting, 
in its mechanism mean, as regards all frame animals, 

the beginning of the end. To obtain half a dozen birds with a bow 
and arrow would be probably just as much fun as, and require far 
more skill than, killing: a hundred with a choke-bore ran. 

The early days of the gun were not so hard on game. When 
men had to go through a laborious system of loading, they did not 
try long and risky shots. In fact. I well remember in my father's 
time, the man was considered to be the best shot who produced 
the most birds with the fewest discharges. Nowadays that is 
all altered, and, what with loaders and cartridges galore, the great 
thing is to blaze away as fast as you can whilst anything is in 
sight ; and so endless birds, partridges, grouse, pheasants, and 
what not, go away peppered and pricked, some to be picked up 
next day and some to pine away. I have made these remarks 
because the modern gunner so frequently simply goes to kill all he 
can, and thinks nothing 01; the fact that the local obliteration of a 
species must follow. 

And in Ireland, at this moment, such a state of things is rapidly 
being arrived at. Hardly a grouse can now be found on the heathery 
hills of Tyrone, or in other places where once they were as abundant 
as in Scotland. Even the migratory birds, such as the duck and the 
snipe, have been terribly reduced in numbers, owing to the countless 
peasant proprietors or tenants that carry guns and blaze all day long 
at everything they see. 

But perhaps I am exceeding my mission, and no one knows better 



370 SPORT IN EUROPE 

than I do that the gun can be used properly and mercifully in the 
hands of a good and true sportsman. 

As an instance of this, I happened last winter to stand beside 
three gunners when a copse was being driven down to them for 
pheasant shooting. I was a spectator. Certainly I had a gun -two. 
by-the-by — but the wind kept all the birds from me, and I had 
naught to do but watch. Every bird that flew over those guns and 
was shot at fell stone dead, barring one hen that fell some hundred 
or hundred and fifty yards down. Our host always counted the 
slain at each stand, and over seventy pheasants were gathered there. 
Certainly two of those gunners are about as good as could be found 
in all the wide, wide world, and the third but little behind them. 

But what I wish to point out is this, that those pheasants never 
suffered; they never knew they had left the earth or air, barring 
the one hen ; one out of seventy suffered. Truly, human beings 
suffer in a greater ratio ! 

Deer- stalking, to my mind, stands out far ahead of all other 
British gun sports. The wild scenery, the shorty crisp grass you 

tread, the air you breathe, the solitude of the moun- 

Dccr- 
. „ . tains, the searching of a crlen with the telescope for the 

stalking. ° rt r 

big stag that may or may not be there, fill the sports- 
man with an exhilaration that nothing else can similarly impart. And 
perhaps one of the great secrets of the fascination of stalking is 
contained in the part that is played by the telescope. The telescope 
is not an instrument that men can handle and use to any purpose 
in a day. I have known men who have killed plenty of stags, and 
who prided themselves on their knowledge of stalking, who never 



THE BRITISH ISLES 371 

have used a glass or carried one. They have to rely on the stalker 
to tell them what is about, and I had an old friend, gone now to 
that glen where the heather never fades, who carried one for years ; 
and one day, on the last occasion that I ever visited him in his forest, 
I took his glass from its case and put it up to see what sort of an 
instrument it might be, and lo, the lenses were so coated with dust 
that it was impossible to see anything through them. My friend had 
not looked through his telescope for years, and yet he had carried 
it every day stalking. 

I fancy there are a good many more who do the same thing, and 
yet a man who has not mastered and used a good telescope when 
stalking game in a wide open country has never known the beauty 
of the sport. Instantly, too, he becomes of use to his stalker in 
finding deer, or in keeping a wounded beast in sight ; and there are 
times, too, when the stalker may not be keen and may deliberately 
not see deer. 

It is useless to point out the advantages of the glass then, or 
in cases where you wish ;t!o find which is the best head, and, as 
is so often the case, the stalker puts you on to the one that is the 
easiest for him to get up to, caring only that you get a beast of 
some sort. 

Well, I do not pretend to know more about the telescope than 
any other sportsman ; but in the Rocky Mountains twenty years ago, 
in Norway and in Scotland, it has been my friend and comforter, and 
enabled me time after time to gaze on my furred friends close beside 
me, as it were, for many an hour together. 

But deer-stalking is a terribly expensive pastime ; and it may be 



372 SPORT IN EUROPE 

taken for granted that each stag costs the party hiring a deer-forest 
^25 a head ; or in other words, a forest yielding twenty-five stags 
would cost ^625. It has often been fiercely argued by political 
agitators and others that the preservation of deer was a curse to 
Scotland and an injustice to the people, but in my humble opinion 
it has helped in a great measure to the prosperity of that country. 
Where the deer roam on the mountain heights of Perthshire, Ro^s- 
shire, Inverness-shire, and Aberdeenshire, in nearly every instance 
nothing could exist but sheep. This at first sight looks bad ; sheep 
are doubtless good for human wants, whilst venison is certainly a 
luxury. But which bring the most money to a district, sheep or 
deer? Ten thousand acres of sheep ground can be attended to by 
one shepherd and two collie dogs. The shepherd lives principally 
on porridge, washed down occasionally by "mountain dew"; the same 
tract as a deer-forest means instantly money flowing into the district. 
There must be stalkers, gillies, ponies, stores, and all the necessaries 
for a rich man's establishment. And Scotland, or at any rate the 
mountains and glens of Scotland, and the villages and people therein, 
thrive and exist well, because these great game farms bring money 
to them. 

Turn and look at the dilapidated state of the glens and mountains 
in the sister island. Ireland has mountains, and moors, and rivers 
quite as fine, where grouse and partridge, deer and hare, salmon and 
all other game that thrive in Scotland were plentiful, but poaching, 
and free gunning, and netting and trapping on land and in rivers 
has reduced the quantity of game to a fearfully low state. In main- 
places there is absolutely nothing left. And are the people happier 



THE BRITISH ISLES 373 

or better off? It was only the other day that I went to Ireland, and 
ten years had elapsed since I was last there. I can only say I was 
pained and grieved. Fields lay out of cultivation; gates hung anyhow 
(and so did men's clothes) ; a shock-headed, good-natured people 
wandered apparently aimlessly about, and eyed me open-mouthed. 
The keeper told me that ducks and snipe, and every kind of game, 
were fast disappearing. 

And when I compared these poor people with the well-to-do 
farmer and the sturdy labourer, clad in his native tweed, in my own 
native county of Aberdeenshire, I could not help concluding that their 
wilful extermination of animal life had much to do with it. There is 
still left in Ireland one deer forest, that of Muckross, near Killarney, 
and here dwell the finest stags to be found, outside a park, in the 
British Isles. 

There exists in all the wooded districts of Scotland a certain 

sprinkling of roedeer, but not in anything like the quantities that 

appear to be found in Austria and Hungary. In 

n\\. _ Roedeer. 

Scotland they are regarded rather as a pest, inasmuch 

as they destroy so much of the crops, nor are they, but in very rare 
instances, stalked and, in my opinion, shot in a proper fashion. The 
late Sir Victor Brook had a marvellous knowledge of the habits of 
the roedeer, and he would go out at the first break of dawn and 
know by some strange instinct whether, and in what glade, the roe- 
deer would probably be found taking his morning breakfast. He 
shot them with a rifle, but forty out of fifty roedeer that are shot in 
the woods of Scotland are blown over by a fowling-piece. This is, 
to my mind, a horrible way of destroying a beautiful animal that, ii 



374 SPORT IN EUROPE 

allowed to live, ought to be stalked and properly treated, for in very 

many cases the poor brute goes off full of pellets. 

There are two ways of shooting grouse and partridges, and there 

are, I think, two ways of shooting pheasants. There is grouse-driving 

over the heads of the shooters by an army of beaters, 

p .,' and there is the finding of grouse and partridges by 

and setters and pointers. As to which of these methods 

Pheasant- j g ^ better for the birds I cannot determine, and mam- 
shooting. 

a bitter argument has taken place over it. Many good 

sportsmen argue that in driving, the birds that come first are the old 
ones, and so they get shot off, and the young ones are left to breed. 
On the other hand, it must be admitted that grouse moors, with the 
exception of those kept in the hands of one proprietor, have deterio- 
rated to an enormous extent since the day when the breechloader was 
invented, and driving became the regular practice. An old Scotch 
keeper whom I have known for many years, on whose ground, in 
the seventies, it was customary for two guns to average, over dogs, 
a hundred brace a day, and where now six guns would consider they 
had done extremely well if they got fifty brace driving, affirms that 
the driving is the "doing o' it." He maintains that time after time, 
when covey or pack pass over the shooter, barrels are let ofl in the 
air, and consequently, though nothing may fall, birds go away pricked 
and wounded. 

With regard to tin; partridge, of course, driving has become more 
a matter of necessity, for the simple reason that cover has become 
scarcer since the introduction of improved reaping and other agri- 
cultural machinery, and the stubbles are almost bare. There can 



THE BRITISH ISLES 375 

be no doubt that to the good shot the driven bird is preferable. 
On the other hand, it is a beautiful thincr to see two o-ood doers 
working their ground, finding their covey, and stealthily approach- 
ing it. 

I have said that I thought there were two ways of shooting 
pheasants. There is the common or garden, ordinary way of slaughter- 
ing them in a barn-fowl style, as they go past the shooter only a few 
feet overhead. There is the other way, which certainly requires more 
skill, namely, that of producing them as far from the gunner and as 
high in the air as is possible. Of course, in the latter case, the lie of 
the ground is a very important factor. Still, by a little manoeuvring, 
even on a flat surface, birds have been known to be allowed to fly 
across the open to some copse beyond, and then brought back over 
the guns to their home covert. 

The hare is an unlucky creature, for he is never quite sure 

whether he is to be chased by a dog or riddled with pellets by a 

man ; and the only satisfaction I have ever got out 

^. v, . Blue Hares, 

of shooting a hare was v when it chanced to be my 

neighbour's, on Mr. Jorrocks' "'are soup" principle. Of all the 

cold, crazy pastimes anyone ever took part in, an autumn drive for 

blue hares in the high Scotch mountains takes the prize. It generally 

sleets — in fact, it always sleets — on these occasions, whilst you perch 

on the highest peak you can find, for the mountain hare always makes 

for the highest points of the hills, whilst the beaters from far below 

gradually drive the game up. With blue nose and numbed fingers 

you wait till at length some half-blue, half-white, cat-like-looking 

beasts appear before you and proceed to wash their faces with their 



376 SPORT IN EUROPE 

paws, and then eye you curious])-, and then you shoot them for 
their impertinence. 

Stay, I know one dafter game than this, and that is rabbit- 
shooting on a Wiltshire downs warren, as I have experienced it. 
For some days previous to the big day some poisonous 

, ,. fumes were inserted into the rabbits' burrows lor the pur- 

shooting'. r 

pose of persuading them to stay above ground. Then. 

when all was ready, four guns walked with the beaters and four went 

forward to a stand. As a rule there was little shooting till the 

walking division got within about a hundred yards of the standing 

guns, and then the fusilade began. The rabbits, half dazed with 

the fumes of the poisonous mixture stuck into their burrows and 

the shouts of the beaters, sat about like empty bottles in a backyard, 

till bowled over by the bold, unerring sportsman. How on earth 

some of us were not killed, Lord only knows! Of course, lots of 

beaters got pellets into them, but then it pays lor a beater to be 

peppered by the lord of the manor. 

The habits of the duck tribe and the woodcock, and the snipe 

are the same all over Europe, and will be familiar to every reader 

of this book; but there is a quaint form n[ shooting 
Snipe. 

the snipe that I used occasionally to go in tor. There 

are some flat marshes out Crowland way, some eight miles oast of 

Peterborough, all intersected by deep, stagnant drains. Here, in 

certain weather, thousands of snipe take up their abode, but the 

difficulty and quaintness attached to the sport was the leaping oi 

the drains with a long pole. Sometimes it stuck in the mud, and 

if you put it too far over and did not spring sufficiently hard to take 



THE BRITISH ISLES jyy 

yourself over the centre point, there you stuck like a bear up a pole, 
till you gradually glided one way or the other into the muddy drain, 
to be hauled out by your laughing attendant. 

I never got many snipe, for they were always very wild, and the 
only chance was snapping them as soon as they rose ; but I always 
got wet. 

But the gun has another thing to answer for. For some time 
past the sport of hawking, or falconry, has been slowly drifting down- 
wards. It was a sport that, in the Middle Ages and 

perhaps as far back as mortal eyes can look, was the _ , 

r r J Falconry. 

"sport of kings " without a doubt. 

Records of hawking and falconry are supplied in the writings 
of Pliny and Aristotle. In Japan, in India, Arabia, Persia, and Syria, 
we can find it has been practised, and in our own Middle Ages 
stringent laws were passed referring to it. Hawks and falcons were 
allotted to men according to their rank and station. An earl had a 
peregrine, a yeoman a goshawk, a priest a sparrow-hawk, and so on. 

The king of birds in Falconry in our Middle Ages was, and even 
now is, the peregrine, and the noble game at which to fly this bold 
and splendid bird was the heron ; but I do not think this form of 
sport is followed any longer in our island. 

On Salisbury Plain, falconry is still carried on, and perhaps in 
other places for all I know, by a few zealous admirers of the sport, 
and to hear an enthusiast on the subject of falconry is enough to make 
one's blood tingle with excitement. Still, as I said before, the gun 
knocked the first nail into the coffin of this sport, and year by year it 
gets less and less support. 



37* 



SPORT IN EUROPE 



We come now to that sport which, as I have said before, the great 
Whyte Melville acknowledged to he nearly equal to a fine run with 

the hounds. Salmon-fishing will he considered by 

Salmon- , . . . , _ . . . 

- . . many the most exciting sport, not only in the British 

Isles, but in the world. But alas! there are more than 

two ways of catching salmon. There is the infernal net, which, I 




PLAYING A FISH IN Till LORN 



know, has nothing to do with sport beyond spoiling it ; and there 
is angling proper, with the worm and the shrimp, the minnow and 
the fly. On some rivers one, or even two, of these lures are useless ; 
the fish will not look at them, and the other two, on the other hand, 
are deadly. But where salmon will take it, the fly stands out far 
ahead of the others. And yet again there are two ways of fly-fishing : 




To face page 378 



THE BRITISH ISLES 379 

I do not mean by this that there are two forms of merely casting the 
line, because there are many ; but there is the ordinary form of fishing 
with the fly, which means that you select a Jock Scott or a Silver 
Doctor from your book and proceed to entice the salmon to rise at it. 
And there is the prettier form, which is angling for him when he 
is rising to the March brown or other small fly. 

Many a time, from the middle of April onwards, have I fished 
down a pool on the Dee with some small jinny that I thought might 
attract the attention of a fish, whilst on the bank my gillie has waited, 
in his hand a fine cast, attached to which were two small double-hook 
March browns. I have gone maybe half-way down the pool, and seen 
nothing, felt nothing, when suddenly I heard a slight swish, and saw 
a nose just move on the surface of the water. I have been out of 
the pool in a moment. "They are on the rise, Jimmy!" And in 
another moment the cast with the March brown has been transferred 
to the line of my rod. 

How many times have I had four or six beauties on the bank whilst 
the rise lasted, which may be* for only a few minutes, or for one hour 
or two according as the day is warm or chilly, in fact while the 
fly is going down the water. 

I think, on looking back on all the varied sports and pastimes 
on which I have engaged, those days with the March brown stand 
forth as the most prominent and pleasant of all my sporting life. 

I have observed, or, at least, such is my opinion, that salmon 
discriminate, and this is the reason that I invariably used to fish 
with two March browns, the smaller size on the bob, some two or 
three feet above the other. My reasons for this are that often 



:8o 



SPORT IN EUROPE 



have I cast over a fish rising at the natural fly time alter time, and 
he would not look at me, but very rarely have 1 ever risen one 

which has missed me and given him a minute or two to settle ami 
think the matter over, without, on going over him again, either 
getting him or, anyhow, rising him a second time. 




•COT HIM!" 



At such times as these minnowing and shrimping should be made, 
as Jorrocks said of coursing, "felony." The fish don't want such 
baits, and they only disturb the pool ; while, of course, tin re are 
some clumsy-handed anglers who can only jerk a minnow or a prawn 
off a Mallock reel. 

The father of the minnow on the Dee, if I may so describe him, 
was Mr. Digby Cayley, and, although the first I ever saw fish, he was 



THE BRITISH ISLES 381 

by far and away the best. He had a knack of casting it and coiling 
the line in his hands, and the takes that he made when he first intro- 
duced it up at Ballater, some twenty years ago, were prodigious. 
Latterly, though, I don't think the salmon has been so easily tempted 
with the minnow, and the last one or two years that I have fished 
on the Dee I have tried it with little effect, though I must admit 
that I have only tried it when I found I could do nothing with 
the fly. 

It is difficult to know whether salmon-fishing in the rivers of Scot- 
land has deteriorated within recent years or not, for the simple reason 
that there may be, as in Pharaoh's days in Egypt, years of prosperity 
and years of want. But in Ireland, from what statistics I have 
seen, I should say that the rivers have steadily fallen off. In the 
Galway river and at the mouth of the Blackwater, perhaps the grandest 
salmon river in the United Kingdom, a fenced iron trap is laid across 
the mouth from bank to bank, w T ith just one gap, maybe a couple of 
yards wide, through which the salmon can pass to the upper reaches, 
and, from what I know of the Irish character, I should think that very 
probably that one loophole of escape is very often closed when no one 
is looking. 

It is astonishing to me, considering the prices City men will pay for 
a stretch of water which salmon have been known to frequent, that 
proprietors along the banks of a river cannot devise some scheme by 
which salmon may be caught with the rod in the upper stretches of a 
river without all being waylaid at the mouth. Of course, it is the old 
story of greed ; and the man at the mouth asks more than the man up 
above will mve. Yet never do I look into the window of a London 



382 SPORT IN EUROPE 

fish shop without lamenting that the silver beauties lying upon the 
slabs were murdered without a chance for their lives. 

Trout and grayling will probably always hold their own. The 
English trout streams are carefully preserved, added to which the 

skill required to entice successfully a fat yellow trout lo 

Trout and . . , r T - ,. , , ■ •■ 

„ ,. rise to a tiny inid<>e in one ot our hnfiflisn clear chalk 

Grayling. J 

streams calls for a deftness of hand and an amount of 
skill that an ordinary yokel, or even a poacher, can rarely have had 
the practice to attain to. 

I have just alluded to the deftness and skill necessary to hook 
a trout on the dry-fly principle, and yet I have several times 

a good dry fly fisher shape a bad salmon fisher. With 

Dry-fly and tne trout j] v there is the one motion — up and back; 
Salmon- 
casting w ' tn tne salmon-cast there are two motions — the up. the 

pause, and the then forward ; and it is curious how long 

the dry-fly fisher is in learning the salmon-cast, the truth being that 

in almost all instances the salmon lies further off in a river wider 

than the one he is accustomed to, and the long true hue is n< cessary 

to reach it. 

On the other hand, so many amateur fishermen imagine that the 

great thing necessary in salmon-fishing is to throw as long a line 

as they can, and in many cases the fly and the line alight on the 

water all in a heap, and by the time the fly is what may be described 

as "fishing," it has passed over the lie of the salmon. The last 

thing to alight on the water should be the fly, and the lighter it 

falls, and the lighter the- sportsman fishes, the greater success will 

attend his efforts. 



THE BRITISH ISLES 



3*3 



On the lakes of Mullingar, in Ireland, big trout are captured with 

the blowline. A silken line and the natural fly attached to a small 

hook are all that is necessary. The boat drifts with 

the wind, and the bait blows out before it, and it is a . , . 

fishing. 

simple matter to strike when the fish rise. These fish 
often run to a great weight — six and eight pounds or more. 

It is a curious fact that coarse fishing, by which I mean inland 
water fishing, in Scotland is almost ignored by the inhabitants of 
the country ; and although there are many lakes teeming with pike 
and perch, hardly ever have I known a native who could be induced 
to take any part in attempting to capture them, much less eat them. 
If these same lakes, or lochs, were situated in the vicinity of London, 
anglers in thousands would be perched on their pitches with floats 
and lures sfalore, but somehow the Scotchman cannot be forced to 
take any interest in them whatever. 

It often makes me smile to watch the Thames anglers on a 
Sunday morning up Maidenhead way, sitting and watching hour after 
hour with a quill float thrown out some yards from the bank in hopes 
that a roach or perch may take a fancy to the maggot or worm on 
the hook. Their patience seems worthy of a better cause ; but that 
again is, as I stated at the beginning of this article, merely my 
own opinion. 



THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE 



*l 



*H 




BKuWN I1KAR 



i 



THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE 

By DEMIDOFF PRINCE SAN DONATO 

r 1 "* H E title of this article may appear to indicate a rash enterprise, 

■*■ if a detailed account is expected of the variety of sport to be 

obtained over that vast area, the Russian Empire, extending as it 

does over one-third of the globe. In undertaking such a task, I find 

it necessary to limit myself strictly to the more important items and 

to treat them as briefly as possible, for on every one 

of them separately sufficient material might be found for Vast i3lze 

^ y f of the 

a respectable-sized volume. Hunting in the Caucasus Empire. 

would alone take up a well-employed and busy sports- 
man's lifetime. In that case how many lives would be required for 
a thorough acquaintance wjth the big game of Siberia, spread over 
thousands of miles of practically unknown country ! How many 
years might be spent in the successful exploration of Russian 
Turkestan and the Pamir Steppes, the mighty " Roof of the 
World"! And all this vast territory excludes Russia proper, which, 
again contains animals of every description, from the polar bear and 
the walrus to the ibex and the gazelle. How is one to compress 
such a variety of details in a few thousand words, and describe these 
various kinds of sport within the limits of a short and concise article? 
Needless to say, it cannot be clone. All one can do is to try and 

387 



388 SPORT IN EUROPE 

present to the reader a general outline of the whole, a briel description 

of the game to be found, and the various modes of securing it, 

referring now and again to the books which have already been 

published on special aspects of the subject. 

The elk (A/ces machlis) is found throughout the northern and 

central districts of European Russia. Its range extends throughout 

Finland, the Baltic provinces, together with a small 
Elk. 

portion of Germany, along the Russian frontier, the 

Polish marshes, including- the governments* of Minsk and Mohilev, 

eastwards throughout the governments of Tambov and Saratov, 

where forests abound, as well as over all the countrv 
Its Range. 

north, almost unto the Arctic Ocean. It is to be 

found in the Ural Mountains, in the whole of Siberia, where the 

Taiga (dense woods) covers immense tracts of ground, in the Altai 

district, on the borders of Mongolia, where I have myself come 

across its tracks, as well as on the shores of the Pacific Ocean, 

where it bears the character of its near relative, the Alaskan moose. 

Its distribution is therefore exceedingly wide over three -quarter^ 

of the Russian Empire. The usual modes of hunting the elk, 

unlike those generally adopted in Norway with led or loose Lapp 

hounds, are either by driving, or by approach during 

TT .. the calling-time in September. Of the two, the former 

Hunting. ° ' 

is by far the simpler, though the less sportsmanlike. 

It consists in finding the elk by its tracks in the snow, a dut) 

performed by professional hunters, who scour the woods for that 

purpose, and, as soon as the tracks are discovered, make a large 

* "Government" in the sense of county. 



THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE 389 

circle on their snow-shoes. If the tracks lead out of it, they make 

another circle till they can determine the exact where- 
Driving, 
abouts of the animals. Beaters are then posted, 

and the guns placed in favourable ground for the elks' passing. 
During the drive the beaters either remain in their places with the 
view of heading the elk if they try to break through, and then 
some half a dozen hunters follow up the tracks inside the ring, 
driving the animals gradually on to the deadly line ; or the whole 
army of beaters may move slowly on, while the flanks draw in as 
they advance. They should never make too much noise, but only 
break a twig here and there, so as not to scare the beasts, but 
drive them steadily up to the guns ; otherwise they would start off 
at a sharp trot, and no shouting would then stop them. It often 
happens that nothing will induce the elk to quit their abode in the 
thick brushwood, and it requires a certain amount of knowledge of 
their ways to place the guns in their usual passes. A drive may 
last three or four hours, v and every hope may be gone, when 
suddenly a large dark grey' body may be seen moving cautiously 
out of the dense timber. There are strict laws protecting hinds, 
enforced by a fine of .£10 (100 roubles) for killing each one, but 
the bulls are mercilessly destroyed without regard to age or size ; 
hence fine palmated horns are growing very scarce in the neighbour- 
hood of big towns, where numerous shooting clubs exist. 

The open season lasts from the end of August till the 31st of 
December. In Finland, elk are still to be found in fair numbers, 
owing to the special laws of the country hitherto forbidding elk-shoot- 
ing altogether. Lately, however, this prohibition was to have been 



39© SPORT IN EUROPE 

cancelled and the game laws unified. The second and, to my idea, 
far more interesting mode of hunting the elk, is by 

a ng stalking during his rutting-time in September; 1 mt the 

with the 5 f 

Call, lack of experienced hunters who can imitate the call 

causes this kind of sport to be less practised. The 
mode of proceeding needs no explanation. Naturally a good trophy 
is more likely to be secured in this manner, it being easier than with 
stags to recognise the call of an old bull. A curious accident occurred 
a few years ago in the Baltic provinces. Two country gentlemen had 
gone out elk-calling, and had somehow found themselves within hear- 
ing-range of each other in the woods. They accordingly approached 
one another, each of them thinking they had to deal with an elk, and, 
being unable to distinguish anything in the brushwood, one ol them 
shot the other dead. 

Little information is to be obtained about elk-hunting in the Ural 

Mountains and Siberia, but there is every reason to 

In the Ural believe that the few professionals who visit the Taiga 

Mountains 

and Siberia re '>' u P on tracking the animals on snow-shoes in deep 

winter, drives being out of the question, owing to the 

attendant expense and scarcity of beaters. 

Bears have a wider distribution over the Russian Empire than elk. 

They are to be found not only in all the above-named regions, but are 

also to be met with in the' Caucasus and on the Pamir 
Bear. 

plateaux. The largest attain huge dimensions, and 

come mostly from Eastern Siberia and Kamschatka, thirtx poods 
(960 lbs.) being the heaviest weight I have heard of for a brown 
bear. I naturally exclude the Polar bear, which is found in the Arctic 



THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE 391 

zone, along the northern coasts, and in point of size is unrivalled by 
any other species. There are several modes employed for bear-hunt- 
ing, the most common being by driving them in winter. They usually 
lie up in November, and slumber till March or April. During the 

time when bears are busy choosing their winter quarters, 

Driving, 
professional hunters track them in the woods, making 

circles similar to those used for elk-hunting. When the tracks lead 

no further, it means that the animal has squatted down for the winter. 

The hunter then comes up to town and "sells his bear" for so much 

per pood (32 lbs.), the price of the pood varying according to the 

facilities for getting at the beast and the distance from the nearest 

railway station. Some years ago, when bears swarmed round St. 

Petersburg, the prices were comparatively low (five or six roubles per 

pood), but now one has to go further every year, and prices have risen 

to twelve and fifteen roubles, especially as many foreign amateurs 

come to Russia for the sole purpose of shooting bears. It is often 

stipulated that if the weight of the animal exceeds a certain figure, 

the price per pood increases proportionately. Thus the price of a 

bear weighing up to six poods may be eight roubles per pood, but if 

perchance the animal weighs ten poods, the four odd poods may cost 

twelve roubles each. It happens now and again that the man who 

owns a bear sells him twice to two different persons in the following 

way : — The night before the beat, the beast is driven out of the 

circle ; the drive takes place ; the unfortunate amateur, who has 

probably come for miles, is told that the bear has somehow broken 

back through the line of beaters. An agreed tip in case of failure is 

handed over, and the same animal is circled again the next day, when 



392 SPORT IN EUROPE 

another amateur finally kills him. This is only one of the innumer- 
able dodges of these wily hunters. Naturally a good many bears 
escape this procedure, and lie undisturbed all the winter, frequent 
heavy snow-falls covering up their tracks. The drive itself presents 
practically no difficulty ; nine times out of ten the beast comes out 
of his own tracks ; hence the best post is on the tracks leading 
into the circle. 

Expeditions are often organised in the government of Olonetl 
and others, where bears abound. These last a week or ten days, 
when fifteen or twenty bears may be killed in this way at the rate of 
two drives, or sometimes three, a da)-. The largest beast I have se< n 
bagged in European Russia weighed over twenty-five poods (800 lbs.). 
Another more exciting mode of hunting this animal consists in march- 
ing up to the bear's den, when the latter has been exactly located by 

the hunter, which is often the case. This may be done 
, n either with dogs (laikis), a species of Lapp hound, whose 

business is to rouse the beast from its lair, and to stop 
him if wounded, or without them, by walking straight, up to the spot. 
This mode of hunting may sometimes prove dangerous, as it happens 
now and then that the animal gets up suddenly from some unexpected 
place at much closer quarters, and it does not take him long to maul 
one. I have heard of peasants going up to a bear's den in this manner 
with an axe in their right hand and rope tied round their hit arm — a 
duel, in which both combatants frequently come to an untimely end. 
In spring bears wake up and wander great distances in search of food, 
which gives rise to a third mode of securing them. A dead bullock, 
or horse, is placed at a likely spot, ami a plank recess built half-way 



THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE 393 

up a tree close by. Here patience comes in, and one may have to sit 

up for days without seeing- any sign of a bear. In the 

Ural Mountains and Siberia bears are generally trapped 

Baits. 

by the natives, and unusually large skins are sometimes 
brought in by peasants. Naturally, where bears are to be found in 
the open, the stalk or approach is commonly used. This mode may 
be applied to the Polar bear, secured by every Arctic expedition.* A 
well-nigh record skin of the Polar bear exists in the Emperor of 
Russia's palace at Gatchina ; they run to enormous sizes, from forty 
to fifty poods in weight (1,200 to 1,500 lbs.). 

In the Caucasus both the brown and mountain grey bear are com- 
monly found above the timber-line in summer. f Here also the only 
chance is to stalk them. In the Grand Duke Serge's 

preserves, in the Kouban district, they are considered as _ 

r J Caucasus. 

vermin, and on an average about eighty are shot by his 

hunters every year. I myself think this is rather a pity, for they 

afford excellent sport and a most exciting chase. 

The aurochs (Bos zirte^] ■ or European bison, known in Russia as 
"zubr," is now confined to a relatively small area.J 
This grand old patriarch, which formerly abounded in R . 
the forests all over Europe, is now on the verge of 
extinction. Were it not for the carefully-preserved districts of the 
Emperor's park of Bielovege, in Russian Poland, and of the Grand 
Duke Serge's Kouban hunting grounds in the Caucasus, this ancient 

* See Badminton Library. Article by Arnold Pike. 

t See Hunting Trips in the Caucasus, by Demidoff Prince San Donato. 
■ % See Badminton Library. Article by St. GEORGE LlTTLEDALE. 



394 SPORT IN EUROPE 

beast would by this time have undoubtedly disappeared. These two 
preserves constitute the only remaining known haunts of the aurochs. 
I do not know what credit may be given to the belief that this animal 
is to be found in the wilds of Siberia, and I give the following state- 
ment with reserve. I have been told that a hunter in 

_., . the service of the Ekaterinburg Shooting Club had 

Siberia. 

lately brought in the news that he had come across three 

large beasts in the woods, which he had never seen before. On being 

shown the illustration of a bison in a book of natural history. he is 

said to have recognised the animal as the species he had seen. After 

all, why should this rumour be entirely rejected ? There is no reason 

why an animal which has been spread over Europe for thousands of 

years should not still exist in the dense Siberian Taiga, as yet beyond 

reach of human enterprise, and whence the three bisons referred to 

might have travelled. The Bielovei^e Park is an immense enclosure of 

above a hundred square miles. Mere the bisons live in safety, and are 

carefullv preserved by the imperial hunters, and fed in 
Preserves. 

winter. Once a year the Emperor and his guests shoot 

over part of the ground, and thirty to forty of these animals are killed 
by "driving." According to the Russian game laws, bison shooting 
is prohibited all the year round, and the Grand Duke Serge had to 
secure for that purpose special permit from the Emperor every time he 
visited the Kouban. He has lately been granted the right of shooting 
bison freely on his own ground, but he himself limits the annual 
number killed to three. The beasts are now confined within a com- 
paratively small area, viz. the woods at the head of the Kislia. and 
some of its lateral valleys, together with a few neighbouring nullahs. 



THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE 395 

They are hunted by the Grand Duke and his guests once a year 

in September, the limited number being not always at- 

Present 
tained. The usual mode of hunting adopted consists in R 

tracking- the beasts in the woods from well-known salt 
licks, where they generally come to feed in the morning. Early spring 
would, of course, be the most favourable time for securing bison by 
following them up along the passes they make through deep snow. 
Roughly speaking, I should estimate the number of bison on the 
Grand Duke's ground at about five hundred head. The compara- 
tively narrow stretch of country in which they are confined has caused 
close inter-breeding, and I think I should be hardly wrong in stating 
that their days are now numbered, and that fifty years hence they 
will have naturally disappeared from the wild forests of the Kisha 
valley. 

Red deer are widely distributed over the Russian Empire. 
Cervus elaphus exists in many parts of European Russia.* There 
is a vast area, covered by dense timber, in the government of 

Nijni-Novgorod, which this species is said to inhabit. 

Red Deer. 
Two or three specimens of shed horns have been 

gathered on the outskirts of those woods, but, owing to almost 
insurmountable difficulties, no sportsman has as yet entered those 
unexplored regions. Want of roads, lack of supplies and com- 
munications, absence of inhabitants, have rendered unsuccessful all 
attempts (if, indeed, any have been seriously made) to penetrate 
into those weird forests. Red deer are also to be found in great 

* Vide Deer of all La?uls, by Lydekker. Also Hunting Trips in the Caucasus, by 
Demidoff Prince San Donato. 



396 SPORT IN EUROPE 

numbers in Poland, the districts of Bielovege, Skernewitz, and Spala 
yielding annually over a hundred stags to the Imperial hunt. They 
are carefully preserved for the Emperor of Russia and his guests, who 
usually shoot over the grounds once a year. Driving and stalking 
are both employed. The low, undulating country renders sport 
comparatively easy. Heads run to a fair size; I should say, some- 
what above the average of German park deer. But by far the 
grandest red deer is the Caucasian ollen. I need not go into the 
long and weary discussion as to whether this deer constitutes a 
distinct species or not; much has already been written on the 

subject.* I will only call the reader's attention to the 
Deer of the 

Caucasus ^ act that the form of their antlers varies considerably, 

and its anc \ tnat j n t ]-j e majority of cases a well-defined cup at 

Affinities. 

the top gives them a close resemblance to the common 

European red deer. Moreover, the stag's call is also that of a red 

deer. Their winter coat is of a greyish hue; the skull is longer, 

and the body altogether larger and heavier, than that of an ordinary 

Central European stag. The nearest ally would appear to lie- the 

deer of Asia Minor and the Carpathians, with which they are almost 

identical. Deer are distributed over the whole of the Caucasus, but 

the finest antlers are carried by stags inhabiting the valleys of the 

numerous Kouban tributaries. They also run to larger weights there, 

the average weighing from thirty-five to forty-five stone, though 

I have seen a very heavy stag killed in the Karaiaz district of 

the Southern Caucasus, whose body must have weighed over forty- 

* Vide "Deer Stalking in the Caucasus." Article in the Encyclopaedia of Sport by 
Demidoff Prince San Donato. 



THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE 



397 



five stone, though his antlers were of the size of those of an ordinary 

Scotch six- pointer. In the Kouban country deer are strictly 

preserved on the Grand Duke Serge's ground, where about twenty 

are shot every year during the rutting season. Here stalking is 

the only mode of hunting employed. Outside this ground, deer 

are mercilessly shot by natives at any time of the year, and the 

chances the sportsman has of coming across a stag are now practically 

nil. Drives are organised at Borjom, Karaiaz, and in the other 

parts of the Caucasus. The Borjom preserves, belonging to the 

Grand Duke Michael, abound with deer, but they cannot compete 

in size of antlers or body with their Kouban relatives. Karaiaz 

is also a Grand Ducal preserve. It is a densely-tangled oak wood, 

almost on the railway line between Tiflis and Bakou, some twenty 

miles from the former place. The forest is usually driven twice a 

year for wild boar and stags, resulting in a bag of about fifty of the 

former and a few of the latter. In Daghestan and other districts 

natives shoot when and where they like, and the present scarcity 

of wild animals is due to 1 the weak enforcement of game laws. 

Although the antlers of the Caucasian ollen vary 

considerably, they have one or two distinctive features. Distinctive 

Features of 
The brow-antler is usually long, the bez-tine short, ^e Antlers 

whilst the fourth point is particularly developed. 

Abnormal heads are, I have noticed, more common than anywhere 

else, and broadly palmated tops occur frequently, as well as points 

directed backwards. I see no reason to apply the denomination of 

maral to the Caucasian deer. The latter is a Persian word, meaning 

deer in general, just as ollen is its Russian equivalent. Moreover, 



398 SPORT IN EUROPE 

the Altai and South Siberian species are generally designated as 

maral, and the application of- the word to two distinct groups is 

apt to create confusion. 

The Altai maral [Cervus canadensis asiaticus), or, as it is 

commonly called, the Altai wapiti, is distributed all over the Altai 

district of Southern Siberia and further eastwards to 
Maral. 

Lake Baikal, as well as over the Amur system, where 

it is known under the local name of isubra. The Altai maral 

and Trans-Baikalian isubra are undoubtedly closely akin, if not 

identical. The latter are very little known, and few specimens have 

been obtained. It appears, however, that they stand higher than 

the maral, and the probabilities are that they form the connecting 

link between the Altai and American wapitis. They are distributed 

over the Amur district, where forests abound, as well as over all 

the timber country along the coast of the Pacific, as far north as 

Okhotsk. The shed horns that have been brought in to Vladivostok 

show a great resemblance in form to those of their American cousins. 

The Altai maral inhabits the woods of that large district of Southern 

Siberia. They have now become exceedingly scarce, owing to the 

price paid for their horns when still in velvet, 170 roubles (/, 18) 

being the maximum for a pair of antlers ; hence every Kalmuk 

who owns a gun spends the whole month of June in the woods, 

wounding many a stag before he secures one. The horns are sold, 

according to weight, to Russian merchants, who send them to China 

and make immense profits by this trade. The Celestials grind these 

horns into a powder, which is supposed to be a powerful remedy 

for every disease. The Russian Government has lately passed a 



^a 




REINDE] R 



ft' 399 



THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE 399 

law entirely prohibiting maral shooting for a number of years, 

but whether this measure can be enforced or not remains to be 

seen. At all events, in 1897 I spent August and part of September 

after maral in the best districts of the Altai. It was, of course, 

too early for the calling season, but, though I was out almost every 

day from early morning to dusk, I only succeeded in spying two 

hinds and a couple of young stags. Littledale was lucky enough 

to see a good fourteen-pointer, but failed to stalk it, owing to his 

hunter's want of precaution. Maral enclosures are common in the 

country, and often contain a hundred and more tame animals. They 

belong to Russian merchants, whose sole object is trade. 

Besides isubra, the Amur and Pacific Coast regions contain a form 

of sika, probably Cervus dybowski, of which very little is known. 

The small island of Askold, off Vladivostok, is the haunt of a 

particular kind of deer seldom found on the mainland. 

Other kinds. 
The ground on that island which it frequents is rented 

by a shooting club, the members of which organise drives several 
times a year, and specimens of the heads secured by them show that 
this deer belongs to the sika group, though its antlers are somewhat 
longer than those of the typical form. 

The reindeer, or caribou, is distributed all over the north of Fin- 
land, the northern governments of Russia as far south 

Reindeer, 
as Nijni-Novgorod and Kazan, wandering in large 

herds, and migrating periodically between the huge tracts of timber. 
I have found this animal myself in Central Ural, though in smaller 
numbers, and was lucky enough to shoot one in the wild district of 
Serebrianka (Central Ural). Its antlers measured just under fifty 



4 oo SPORT IN EUROPE 

inches, but the palmation was not strongly developed. I >riving was 

the mode employed after the animals had been located in a great 
circle of about four miles in circumference by their tracks in deep 
snow. In North-Eastern Siberia they are occasionally secured by 
professional hunters, who go out after sable and fox, and I have 
heard of fine antlers being brought into Vladivostok, though I have 
myself never seen any of them. I presumed they belonged to rein- 
deer closely allied to the North American woodland caribou. 

The European roedeer {Capreolus vulgaris) is distributed in most 
of the southern governments of Russia proper, as well as in the 

Caucasus. Some specimens from the government of 
Roedeer. 

Kiev show that they attain larger dimensions than 

those of Western Europe, and their horns are very nearly as large as 

those of their Siberian relative. They are carefully preserved in 

some parts by influential landowners, and abound in districts where 

purshen (stalking) as well as autumn driving are in vogue. I have 

seen as many as fifteen bucks shot in one drive. I cannot agree with 

those writers who regard the Caucasian roedeer as identical with 

Capreolus pygargus. It appears to me rather to be identical with the 

European form. Capreolus pygargus is distributed all over the Ural 

Mountains and Southern Siberia, including the Altai and Amur 

districts. It is larger than the European roe, and the antlers are 

longer, and usually have wider spread. I have shot several in the 

Ural Mountains exclusively by driving, and have stalked them in the 

Altai, where they exist in great numbers, and are known as ielik. 

They are very wary and exceedingly difficult to approach. In our 

trip of 1897 Littledale managed to secure a very fair specimen, whose 



THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE 



401 




SIBERIAN ROE HORNS 



horns measured over thirteen inches, but I believe they sometimes 
attain fifteen inches and over. 

The musk deer (tabarga) is also to be found in the Altai, where 
it is becoming very rare. 

With regard to mountain game, the Russian Empire affords, 
perhaps more than any other country, excellent sport. European 
Russia in this respect must be naturally excepted, being 
almost entirely flat; but the Caucasus, Turkestan and 



Mountain 
Game. 



the Pamir, the Altai and the Stanovoi range along the 

coast of the Pacific Ocean yield at least a dozen different kinds of 

wild sheep and ibex. The Caucasus contains the greatest variety of 



4 o2 SPORT IN EUROPE 

mountain game. Chamois and tur (Caftra caucasica) are to be found 
in large numbers in its north-western districts. Burhel {Capra 
pallasii) inhabit the high ground around Mount Kasbek, as well as 

Daghestan, where Copra agagrus likewise occurs, but 

The 

„ the latter is more numerous alontr the valley of the 

Caucasus. & 

Araxes, on the Persian border. Craggy cliffs, over- 
looking that river on either side, afford them capital retreats in case of 
danger, and the pasturage on the plateau above is excellent grazing. 
They are very seldom disturbed in these native haunts, and I believe 
that the sportsman who wishes to secure a specimen of that ancestor 
of all domestic goats could not do better than try the country between 
Nahitchevan and Ordoubad. These regions also contain the Anato- 
lian sheep (Ovis orient 'a/is anatolica, Radde). I came across two or 
three herds of the latter in 1896, but my attempts to approach them 
proved unsuccessful, although several goats fell to my rifle. The 
older bucks are as wily as possible, and remain the whole day con- 
cealed amongst inaccessible crags. They go down to the river to 
drink during the night, and it is only at early dawn Jt hat they are to 
be found grazing on the higher tablelands, when the chance of a shot 
has to be taken almost in the dark. 

Chamois are plentiful in most parts of the north-western Caucasus. 
Drives, or gais, used to be the only mode of securing them ; but 

the ineffectiveness of this plan has now been proved, 
Chamois. 

and the Grand Duke Serge, on whose territory the 

greatest number occur, resorts entirely to stalking. As many as 

twenty have been shot in this way in one day. As regards size, 

the Caucasian chamois never attains such large dimensions as those, 



THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE 



4°3 



for instance, of Transylvania, but resembles more the Pyrenaean 

izard. 

The tur (Capra caucasica) abounds on the higher ground in that 

district, and is now also pursued by stalking. The largest herds 

are to be found round Mounts Abao-o and Fisht, where 

Tur. 
the ground is kept comparatively quiet, and the pastures 

afford capital grazing. Mount Abago raises its lofty snow-clad peak 

in the heart of the Grand Duke Serge's preserves, at the very head 

of the bison-frequented Kisha valley. It is the paradise of Capra 

caucasica, and heads measuring over forty inches in length have been 

secured here. This wild goat occurs all along the main range, up 

to Mount Elburz, where it gives place to an intermediate race, 

which, from the specimens I have seen, I believe to be hybrid 

between C. caucasica and C. cylindricornis. Dr. Radde, with whom 

I have often spoken on the subject, is inclined to agree with this, 

The East Caucasian tur, or burhel, is to be found between Mount 

Kasbek and Daghestan, where it still exists in great numbers. 

Round Kasbek these animals are frequently disturbed by natives, 

who shoot them in winter when they come down to the lower ground. 

The village of Kobi consists almost entirely of professional hunters, 

who pursue the animals with dogs in deep snow ; the tur, being 

heavier, has the disadvantage in the chase, and is thus easily brought 

to bay. The wool, or undercoat, is very valuable, the hide is used 

for straps or bridles and the horns for drinking-bowls. In Mingrelia 

and Svanetia tur are plentiful. The Prince of Mingrelia owns large 

tracts of country in the former place, and almost every year a three 

days' drive takes place. The first two days hundreds of beaters 



4 o 4 SPORT IN EUROPh 

walk up at night on the hills ; on the morning of the third day. 

when the tur are supposed to be concentrated in a comparatively 

narrow stretch of ground, the guns are posted along a ridge, and 

the beaters come slowly up. I believe the results of this performance 

seldom correspond to the efforts made, while the animals are scared 

for many months after. In Russian Turkestan the hills round 

Krasnovodsk contain a species of sheep, Ovis vignei, as well as 

Copra (egagrus ; but very little is known of shooting in those parts 

excepting from native accounts, which are very untrustworthy. The 

Tillis Natural History Museum contains several specimens of sheep 

from the Krasnovodsk country, and I believe Dr. Radde assigns 

them to the vignei type. 1 will not dwell on the 
Ovis Poli. 

Pamir sheep (Ovis po/i), of which so much has already 

been written.* Suffice it to say that they are distributed all over 
the Pamir plateaus, from Lake Karakul, where Littledale first found 
them, and the sources of the Oxus to Hunza, the Alichur and 
Tagdumbash Pamirs being their favourite haunts. f They live at 
high altitudes among large rolling boulders, and seldom take to rocks 
unless scared. This, I believe, is a feature common to most wild 
sheep, which rely more on their wonderful eyesight than on conceal- 
ment. Ovis poli affords capital sport, though very difficult to 
approach, and shots have usually to be taken at long ranges. 
Their horns, though not as massive as those of Ovis amnion of the 
Altai, are as a rule wider spread and attain greater length, as may 

Sport on the Pamir Steppes, by Major CUMBERLAND. 
t Anicle by St. George Littledale in the Badminton Library. Lord Dunmore's 

book on the Pamirs. 



THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE 405 

be seen on referring to Rowland Ward's Records of Big Game. 
Stalking is naturally the only possible way of securing them. 

Capra sibirica is also found on the Pamirs, and all over the 
mountain ranges of Central Asia, from the Altai to the Himalayas, 
living amongst the more inaccessible crags, and, except- 

CeLDr3. 

ing at early dawn or at nightfall, seldom appearing in . . 

the open. The Kashmir kel, the Turkestan teke, and 
the Altai boun appear to be all referable to Capra sibirica, yet it is 
still an open question whether they differ in any way from one another. 
I was lucky enough to secure a couple of them in the Altai in 1897, 
both heads measuring close upon forty inches, and they certainly 
afforded first-rate sport, though their sight is not nearly so keen as 
that of wild sheep. In fact, I once found myself on horseback within 
300 yards of a herd of these ibex, and had time to dismount and 
conceal my pony without being noticed by them. In the district of 
Semiretchinsk (Southern Siberia) the mountains in the neighbourhood 
of Vernoje contain a species of wild sheep (Ovis karelini), probably 
closely akin to those found by Littledale in the low ranges of hills 
round Lake Zaisan. According to Littledale's statements, these 
sheep, contrary to the usual habit of wild sheep, trust almost entirely 
to concealment. I quote his words : " The sheep's habit of dis- 
appearing in cavities and under rocks from 10 a.m. until evening made 
the sport less interesting than the pursuit of Ovis poli, which is 
always ' on view,' and even when hard hit the extraordinary vitality of 
the beast not infrequently enables him to escape the hunter." Most 
of the specimens Littledale secured were "jumped " by him at a few 
yards' distance out of such natural pits or hollows as he fortunately 



4 o6 SPORT IN EUROPE 

came across. This species of sheep, though smaller, appears to be 

intermediate between the Pamir Ovis poli and the Altai Ovis ammon, 

to which I will now draw the reader's attention. The " true Ovis 

amnion" (as Rowland Ward calls it) is distributed over 

. Northern Mongolia, in the Altai Mountains, on the 

Ammon. & 

extreme southern borders of Siberia, its western limit 
being probably the Mouss-Taou range ; eastwards and southwards its 
limit is yet undefined, but there is every reason to believe that this 
largest of all wild sheep is to be found along the hills running to Lake- 
Baikal, south of Irkoutsk, in the eastern direction. In 
1897 Littledale and I found them as far south as Dain 
Kul, where the natives asserted that in the mountains south of that 
lake there were also sheep belonging to the same type. Our expe- 
riences showed them to be very sporadically distributed. We came 
across numbers of them on the Siberian frontier, losing them entirely 
for some time along the Kobdo River, and finding them again further 
westward in herds of sixty rams. The height at the withers does not 
apparently exceed that of Ovis poli, but the horns arc more massive 
(the maximum girth at the base being twenty inches), and denote a 
more robust growth. We found them in June on rolling hills at an 
altitude of about 9,000 feet. They take to the rocks only when they 
are scared, and usually live in the open. The native Kalmuk name 
is kotchkor for rams, corresponding to the Pamir guldja. The ewes 
are in almost all parts of Central Asia known as arkhar. Little- 
dale's largest head of this species measured 62^ inches in length, and 
1 9^ inches girth. 

In concluding these brief remarks on mountain game in the 



THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE 407 

Russian Empire, I may add that the peninsula of Kamschatka 

harbours a near ally of the American bighorn, i.e. Ovis nivicola, 

but, except for the interesting and instructive account of this sheep 

given by Dr. Guillemard in his Cruise of the Marchesa (vol. i. 

p. 214), very little is known of its distribution and 

habits. It probably also exists in the Stanovoi Moun- wild Sheep 

of Kam- 
tains, along the coast of the Pacific Ocean, where keen sc hatka 

sportsmen would find their hunting aspirations amply 
rewarded. I have lately been told that a species of goat in- 
habits the same range of hills some two hundred miles north of 
Vladivostok, with horns approaching in character those of the 
tahr. 

Coursing with borzois, or Russian wolf-hounds, is commonly 
practised in Russia. There are two clubs in St. Petersburg and 

Moscow, the members of which devote themselves 

Coursing, 
entirely to that branch of sport, and field-trials take 

place every year in the neighbourhood of both capitals under the 

superintendence of H.I.H. the Grand Duke Nicholas, who awards 

the prizes and cups. The best kennels are owned by Prince Galitzin 

and Count Stroganoff. 

Hunting in Russia is practically confined to wolf-hunting, with 

the exception of the Imperial hunt, which maintains a pack of 

foxhounds. But by far the most popular sport is the combined 

operations of foxhounds and borzois after wolves. It is practised 

throughout the whole of Russia, but, owing to the 

& & Hunting, 

absence of bogs and marshes, the central and southern 

governments of Russia afford better grounds for the purpose than 



408 



SPORT IN EUROPE 



the northern districts.* The most important hunting establishment 

is the Imperial hunt, the kennels of which are at Gatchino, the 
whole staff and hounds shifting once a year in autumn 
for six weeks' hunting in the different governments of 
Central and Southern Russia. The Grand Duke Nicholas owns 
kennels in the government of Toula, where he hunts regularly in 



Wolf. 




September and October. Another well-known hunt is that belonging 
to Count Sheremeteff, in the Sarattoff country. Foxhounds are 
employed to draw the coverts, the huntsmen standing outside the 
wood at different corners with a couple of borzois each. When 
the wolf breaks covert, the hounds are slipped, and the chase begins, 
affording now and then a long run and great excitement. Fences 
are unknown in the Russian steppes, but ditches are frequent 

* See the chapter on "Wolf-hunting in Russia" in ROOSEVELT anil GRINNKI is book, 
entitled Hunting in Many Lands, 1895. 




To face Page 408 



THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE 409 

Hares and foxes, coursed with borzois, also occasionally afford capital 

runs. 

In no country in the world is there better or more varied shooting 

than in Russia. The shooting of capercailzie is done almost entirely 

in spring, when the cock-bird starts his love-song. It 

Birds. 
usually begins in April, a few days earlier or later, 

according to the severity of the winter, and lasts throughout that 

month. The fascination of this sport consists, to my mind, more 

in the awakening of nature and animal life than in the stalk itself, 

which is comparatively easy. As everyone knows, the 

Capercailzie. 
capercailzie's song lasts only a few seconds, and the 

concluding notes turn into a hissing sound, during which the bird 
is entirely deaf. The hunter may then rush forward, stopping just 
before the song is over, for the bird then regains its acute sense 
of hearing. This usually takes place between 1.30 and 3 a.m., 
and most shots have to be taken at earliest dawn. As many as 
seven birds in one morning have been bagged in this way. 
Difficulties sometimes arise owing to dense covert and marshy 
ground, which have to be crossed in the dark. If one happens 
to pitch in an awkward position, and the bird does not repeat its 
song at short intervals, seconds seem hours, and the slightest move- 
ment on the shooter's part means certain failure. Tok 

r The TOK. 

is the Russian name for this mode of shooting, denoting 

both the place where capercailzie gather in the woods, as well as 
the sounds they emit. The places are generally well known to 
keepers, who wander about the forest in search of tresh toks, 
and birds come back every spring to call almost from the same 



4 io SPORT IN EUROPE 

tree. This mode of shooting is employed throughout all Russia, 
as well as in the Ural Mountains and Siberia. Capercailzie do 
not exist in the Caucasus. 

On similar ground the black game assemble and fight in spring ; 
the name tok is also employed for this favourite mode of shooting 

them throughout Russia. A small branch hut, or 

Black 

shalash, is put up close to the spot where the birds 

gather at early dawn, and the hunter must conceal 

himself in this hut before they congregate from all parts of the 

wood to their fighting-ground, i.e. at about 12.30 a.m. Great care 

must be taken not to shoot the first bird that comes ; he is generally 

the one that calls the others to assemble, and is known as the 

tokovik. If he be killed, his companions will probably not turn 

up, and the night's sport will be gone. An assemblage of thirty 

birds is considered a good tok. and eight or ten may be easily 

bagged in one morning. In their excitement, blackcock often pay 

no attention to a shot, and continue their joust, though sometimes 

they fly away and return a few minutes later. They begin calling 

earlier in the season than capercailzie, and usually leave oft" in May. 

In autumn, round St. Petersburg, driven black game afford fair 

bags, over a hundred having been killed in a day by ten or twelve 

guns. The best ground for this sport is rented by 
Drives. 

the Grand Duke Nicholas and several shooting clubs, 

the drives including, besides black rame, numbers of blue hares, 

pheasants, and partridges, though the last-named do not breed well 

in the too capricious springs of those northern climes. Black game 

exist over almost the whole of Russia and in Siberia. In the 



THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE 411 

Caucasus there is a distinct species ( Tetrao mlokoezieviezi), which 

lives at hig-h altitudes, and is found in summer above the timber- 

line. 

Another favourite spring shooting in Prussia is afforded by the 

woodcock. It goes by the name of tiaga. The gun is posted 

at a place where birds have been observed to fly at 

Woodcock. 
dusk, usually at the corner of a wood. Woodcock 

invariably choose the same spot for their evening flight. The 

cocks skim the tops of the trees in search of mates, uttering a 

hissing sound which is heard at a distance, and warns the shooter 

of their approach. They generally fly round and round the same 

bit of ground, and as many as a dozen birds have been bagged in 

this manner in less than an hour. Woodcock are frequently met 

with in early autumn drives round St. Petersburg. They migrate 

south after the first snowfall, and are then found in numbers in the 

southern governments of Russia. 

Lakes and marshes are exceedingly numerous, hence wild swans, 

geese, and ducks of every kind, snipe (both the common and great 

snipe), ruffs, plover and curlew. There is capital shooting of this 

kind on Lake Ilmen, in the government of Novgorod. Here swans 

and geese collect by thousands in spring on their way 

Wild-fowling, 
north, usually at Laster time, and immense tracts 01 

country round the lake have been rented by a few sportsmen, who 

own the exclusive rioht of shootinsr Sfame in that district. I have 

been a member of this club for years, and can state that very large 

bags have been obtained. Special hunters are appointed to give 

timely notice of the pass, which hardly ever lasts more than a week, 



412 SPORT IN EUROPE 

and to post the guns in the direct line of flight, which is liable 
to change every year, according to circumstances. The mode of 

proceeding is as follows: — 

Shooting on „„ ... . 

T . T1 When notice has been given that cfeese are arriving 

Lake Ilmen. ° ° ° 

in fair numbers, the members of the club come down 
and settle in specially -prepared house-boats. The operations are 
based on the fact that the lake is in flood at that time of year, 
owing to the melting" of the icebergs, and the country is deep under 
water for miles around, where in summer one goes out snipe shoot- 
ing. If the flood comes on gradually, higher ground remains for 
some time above water, and these places, which appear to be islands, 
and are, as a rule, covered with stubble, afford capital feeding grounds 
for the geese, which settle on the ice in the middle of the lake, and 
come over to roost to these isolated resorts at early dawn and in tin- 
evening, sometimes remaining there all day. The guns are naturally 
posted behind artificial " blinds " at these spots. Five or six tame 
geese (or, better still, wild geese that have been caught) are tethered 
by cords, and are placed round the gun. As soon .as they see their 
comrades approach, they invariably call them down, and the shooting 
begins. In this manner five or six guns have succeeded in bagging 
over three hundred geese in three days. I have myself secured over 
thirty in less than an hour. Swans are also numerous; eight have 
fallen to my gun in one morning. A curious incident, which might 
have ended in dramatic fashion, occurred to me one day as I was 
lying low after geese on one of these small islands. It was thawing 
fast, and birds were flying over regularly. In my excitement I 
had failed to notice that the water was coming up last, and was 



THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE 413 

suddenly and most disagreeably reminded of this by a feeling of 
cold on my feet. I looked down, and there was no more ground 
to be seen ! The boat which had brought me was about a mile off, 
and the geese were at once forgotten. My desperate shouting and 
firing at short intervals roused the men, who, when they came up, 
found me already half under water, and nearly frozen ! In some 
seasons the ice melts so quickly, and the ground is so rapidly flooded, 
as altogether to prevent any sport, for the geese, seeing no food, 
continue their journey without alighting. The only consolation then 
is to bid farewell to the V-shaped flocks, which are to be seen flying 
steadily at a great height, and to wish them au revoir till next year. 
The species of geese obtained at Lake Ilmen are chiefly the grey- 
lag, the bean and the pink-footed geese. Of swans, the whooper 
is the commonest. A week or ten days after the geese, teal make 
their appearance, and, later still, mallards and other species. Very 
heavy bags (over three hundred in a day to one gun) have been 
made on Lake Ilmen with decoys. In July and August, the grounds, 
which in April were deep under water, afford capital snipe shooting 
over dogs, double and common snipe being very numerous, and one 
gun may, with a little luck, bring in over a hundred as the result of a 
day's work. In the Siberian marshes, snipe are also found in great 
numbers, but lately the game laws for Russia proper have been 
extended to Siberia, where snipe used to be netted in spring, and the 
price in the market towns of a snared bird was double that of a shot 
one. Ducks are, of course, numerous all over Siberia, especially in the 
Kainsk district, where lakes and marshes cover hundreds of miles of 
country. I have been told that in the south-eastern corner of the 



4 i4 SPORT IN EUROPE 

Caucasus, on the borders of Persia, round Lenkoran, where these birds 

migrate for the winter, wild-fowling yields enormous bags of water-fowl 

of every description. 

The pheasant and the francolin are almost extinct in the Caucasus, 

where some twenty years ago they swarmed. The former is still to be 

found in a wild state in Russian Turkestan ; the latter is 

Pheasant now con fJ nec } to a small preserve belonging t<> the Grand 

and 

Francolin. Duke Nicholas Mikhailovitch, in the government "I 

Elisavetpol, where His Highness shoots two or three 

times a year over spaniels, and the bags obtained are comparatively 

small. 

Hawking is popular in the Kirghiz and Orenburg steppes, in 

Bokhara and Russian Turkestan, where hares, foxes, and antelopes 

are flown at with the bcrkut, a large eagle, believed to be identical 

with the golden eagle of Europe. With the aid of this 
Hawking. 

fine bird, full-grown antelopes have often been brought 

down. A very complete account of hawking in Russian Turkestan 

and the use of the berkut will be found in Harting's Bibliotheca 

Accipitraria, 1891, under the head of " Russian Works on Falconry," 

and in the same author's Hints on the Management oj Hawks (second 

edition, 1898) in a chapter entitled "The Eagles used by Russian 

Falconers." 

Fishing, in the sporting sense of the word, does not exist in 

Russia, with the exception of some parts of Finland, where two 

or three clubs, consisting mostly of Englishmen, are 
Fishing. 

the sole exponents of that sport. 1 believe trolling 

on the lakes with spoon or minnow constitutes the principal mode 



THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE 



4i5 




KIRGHIZ FALCONER AND BERKUT 



of fishing. Salmon-trout, running up to fifteen pounds, though not 
frequent, are sometimes killed. Fly-fishing is occasionally employed, 
but less successfully. Trout streams are rare in Euro- 
pean Russia ; not so in the Caucasus, where almost T f0Ut 

in the 
every mountain torrent contains fish. In the Laba and Caucasus 

Zelentchouk rivers I have caught over one hundred 

and fifty in a day, averaging half a pound. Being less sophisti- 



4 i6 SPORT IN EUROPE 

cated than English trout, they would rise to any kind of fly. In 
the southern Caucasus Lake Goktcha abounds with a species ol 
Salmo fcrox, and I cannot, in this connection, do better than refer 
my readers to Dr. Radde's interesting volume on the Caucasian 
SalmonidcE. The Ural and Altai mountain streams contain a great 
number of grayling, which sometimes grow to a weight of four or five 
pounds. I have fished in both places, and have found that any 
rly will serve the purpose. In Kamschatka salmon are plentiful, 
and come up the streams in thousands in spring ; but fishermen 
are scarce in those countries. Bears are the only piscivorous animals 
that profit by the abundance. 



TURKEY 




PHEASANT 




i;l D GROUS] 







CHERIF PASHA, A.D.C. TO H.I.M. THE SULTAN 
AND OTTOMAN MINISTER AT STOCKHOLM 



TURKEY 



By A. G. HULME BEAMAN 



I.—SHOOTING 

f N writing these remarks for brother British sportsmen, I divide 
*■ them into two categories ; those who come expressly for sport's 

sake, with unlimited time at their disposal, and the casual tourists 

or yachtsmen, who love the gun and happen to find themselves under 

the shadow of the Crescent. 

For the instruction of the former it may be as well to state 

that not only is the importation of pistols, rifles, and 

cartridges strictly forbidden, but the rule is also rigor- _ . ' 

° J ° Licences, &c 

ously enforced, the usually potent influence ot bakshish 

419 



4 2o SPORT IN EUROPE 

ljeiii!^ of no avail to relax the vigilance of the Customs as regards 
these articles. Consequently, although it may appear a somewhat 
immoral piece of advice to begin with, the sportsmen who have pet 
rifles must smuggle them, and do SO artistically if they wish to 
avoid forfeiture. The same must be done with cartridges. Shooters 
living' at Constantinople are generally well supplied with nitro-powder 
ammunition, and will, I think, usually he glad to give om of their 
ahunclance within certain limits. Turkish powder is coarse -grained 
and fouls the barrels badly, but is ol fair strength and regularity. 
A shooting licence or teskereh is necessary, ami easily procured 
through the Consulate, at a cost of about toy. 

Dogs are importable and dutiable. For woodcock and quail they 
are indispensable, and difficult to procure on the spot. A slow, 

staunch pointer or setter which retrieves is better than 

Dogs- 
spaniels, even in the thick Turkish coverts which 

somewhat puzzle most English ranging dogs, accustomed to moor 
or stubble, until they have had a season's practice. At the same 
time it is no exaggeration to say that 75 per cent, of imported 
English dogs die of canine typhus within eighteen months. Italian 
and Russian dogs seem better able to stand the Constantinople sick- 
ness, but all "foreigners" are dangerously liable to be attacked, and 
seldom recover. 

Some knowledge of the language is so necessary that it is not 

advisable for a stranger to shoot without a companion speaking 

Turkish. Besides the usual need of communication 

„ with the natives, one is continually coming across 

Dogs. ' a 

Albanian shepherds, whose large ami savage dogs 



TURKEY 



421 



unhesitatingly attack anybody approaching- within a quarter of a 
mile of the flock. There is no more unpleasant predicament than 
to be attacked by a couple of these brutes, and if a stranger follows 
his natural impulse and shoots in self-defence, unless he can very 
well explain his action he will probably pay for it with his life. In 
fact, local shooters have a saying that if you shoot a shepherd's dog 
you must be prepared to shoot the shepherd as well. The best thing 
to do is simply to stand still, or better even to sit down, when the 
dogs will simply watch you until called off. They are, however, 
very likely to kill your own dog, and the golden rule is to give 
shepherds a very wide berth. 




TURKISH HOUNDS AND HUNTSMEN 



There is a sporting club at Constantinople which keeps a pack 

of good native hounds, styled koppoi. They are hardy 

and fast, with "ood noses, and vicious. The Euro- _, , 
& Club. 

pean or Roumelian hound is shaggy-coated, whilst the 



422 SPORT IN EUROPE 

Asiatic is a smooth black -and -tan. This pack was out on a 

recent occasion, and only two came back unmarked by wild boar, 

which proves their courage. Visitors can be. and occasionally are, 

invited to participate in the club hunts. The venue is usually on 

the Asiatic shore of the Bosphorus or in the Gulf of Ismidt. sports 

men and hounds being conveyed in a steam-tug. 

Constantinople itself affords excellent sport in the immediate 

neighbourhood. At the end of August the flight of quail begins, 

and in a eood year enormous numbers are killed. The 
Quail. , , , 

favourite ground, which for some occult reason the 

quail invariably prefer to any other, is San Stefano, about one hour 

by tram from the capital. The fields are parched and almost bare, 

and every small tuft of grass, big clod, or furrow, seems sometimes 

to shelter a bird. Kilios, on the Black Sea, is the only other spot 

which provides anything like the same quantity, being apparently 

the point of arrival, as San Stefano is that of departure. 

About fifty miles lower down the Marmora than San Stefano 

is the village of Herekly, also much favoured by .the quail. I he 

natives there seldom use a gun, but take thousands with 

7~ , . hawks and nets. A <rood hawk will catch over a 

hawking. ° 

hundred, and seldom kill one. The nets used are 
like common butterfly nets, only stouter, ami some of the netters 
go to the luxury of a donkey, affording a most comical sight. It 
requires some practice ami sharp eyes to see a squatting quail, but 
they rarely pass one, as can be proved by going over the same ground 
after them with a dog. The hawks are trained a few weeks pre- 
viously, and turned loose at the end of the season as not being worth 



TURKEY 



423 



keeping till next year, though it is difficult to buy one when the 
flight is in full swing and each hawk is earning at the rate of perhaps 
half a sovereign a day. The bird is held in the hand, and eagerly 
watches the ground. The instant a quail rises he is violently flung 
at it, as if he were a stone. It is an amusing and interesting scene 
to watch. 






TURKISH SPORTSMEN 



Over against Herekly, across twenty-eight miles of sea, lies Marmora 
Island, inhabited principally by Greeks. The hillsides and tops are 

planted with vines, and the whole island swarms with 

... , , , , ■ , r ■ j Rabbit and 

rabbits and red-legged partridges, of great size and p artr : de . e 

delicious flavour, due to the wild sage and thyme on 
which they thrive till they are coated in fat. The villagers occasion- 
ally shoot the game, but only when they can take a "sitting" shot, 
and a sportsman with good legs, lungs and eyes can have a very 
fair day's fun there in September or October. The heat, however. 



4 2 4 SPORT IN EUROPE 

at that season, when the south winds prevail, is usually terrific, and 
the climbing very rough and steep. It will take an hour and a 
half from almost any point of landing to reach the only comparatively 
easy tableland on the top, and by that time a good deal of perspira- 
tion and enthusiasm will be taken out of most men. Dogs are not 
of much use, as there is little scent on the torrid rocks. Coveys 
must be either kicked up, or disturbed by stones thrown right and 
left by a native. But in this primitive fashion a couple of guns, 
sound in wind and limb, and using straight powder, might expect 
anything between fifteen and twenty brace in three or four hours' 
work, exclusive of the time taken to reach the really practicable 
ground. The best shooting is to be had from Plavati, where there 
is also decent anchorage. Prasteo is another convenient starting- 
point. 

Besides the islands, there are not many places near Constantinople 
where partridges are to be found in paying numbers. H. B. Majesty's 

Consul, Mr. Eyres, has kindly given the following notes 
Partridge. J 

concerning country over which I have not myself shot : — 

"The best ground for partridge shooting in European Turkey 

is that portion of old Thrace extending along the railway from 

Dedeaghatch to Ferri and Bitekly, a distance of some twenty-five 

miles. Partridges, both grey and red - legs, are found in great 

quantities all along the line in the fields and on the low cultivated 

hills. Two guns should be able to make bags of thirty brace per 

diem during October and November in any good year. It is a 

strange fact, which I have not observed elsewhere, that mixed coveys 

of grey- and red-legs are frequently met with, though there is ap- 



TURKEY 425 

parently no inter-breeding. In past years pheasants also were fairly 

plentiful in the coverts on the Maritza plain, but the floods of two 

years ago destroyed most of these birds. 

"At the mouth of the Maritza, and in the marshy district of 

Enos, snipe, duck, and geese abound. Some twenty-five miles to 

the east of Enos lies the district of Kishan, where boar 

and roedeer are plentiful. A visit to this out-of-the- _ , ' . 
r Duck, etc. 

way spot would probably repay any gunner who did 
not mind roughing- it." 

In general, accommodation of a kind is not hard to find, nor is 
it luxurious when found. Those who intend to shoot 
in the provinces may be recommended to take a _ 4. 
" Burleigh " camp-bed, and plenty of insect powder. 

All over Macedonia partridges and hares are numerous. Grey 
partridges swarm in the vineyards round Monastir, and red-legs are 
especially plentiful in the hills round Fiorina and that neighbourhood. 

I have seen good bear-skins brought from the mountains round 

Monastir, and I once turned out a large bear myself from a ravine 

not half an hour's walk from the town. As a rule, the 

Bear. 
Turkish bear is much smaller and better tempered than 

his Russian cousin. His coat is also much shorter, and is invariably 

plain russet-brown. 

Three hours by train to Sinekly, and three hours on by carriage 

lies Strandja, at the foot of a spur of the Balkans. From Strandja, 

as headquarters, parties have succeeded in obtaining 

Stag-, 
some fine stags, but, owing to the wildness of the 

country and difficulty of communication, it is seldom shot over. If 



426 



SPORT IN EUROPE 



the native sportsmen are to be believed, a good stalker could make 
sure of several heads in a week, and the red stag of the Balkans is a 
kino- of his kind. 




1. A refugee from Koumelia. 

3. A fashionable young I 

6. A KurdiOi chieftain in exile 



3 i 5 6 7 

2. An A.D.C of II. I. M. 1 
4 & 5. Brilons. 
7. A judge of the High Court. 



Snipe. 



Snipe are scarcely as numerous as might be expected. The only 
marshes near Constantinople on the European side are those of 
Yarem Bourgas, about two hours by train, and Buyuk 
Chekmedjee, an hour or so further down the line. 
Both of these are, however, being gradually drained, and Constanti- 
nople shooters who care for this branch of sport generally repair, 
during the months of January and February, to Ismidt. Though 
strictly speaking this marsh cannot be included in descriptions of 
" Sport in Europe," yet I mention it and several other shooting 
grounds which are so immediately in the neighbourhood of Constanti- 



TURKEY 427 

nople that, though in Asia, they may, for practical purposes, be 
considered as making part of the European sportsman's beats. 

The Ismidt marsh extends for several miles at the end of the 
Gulf, and it is easy to fire from 80 to 100 cartridges a day there ; 
the number of snipe bagged of course depends on the shooter. 
There is fair hotel accommodation and easy rail communication. 

Duck shooting has not been much practised of late years. 

Hobart Pasha used a swivel-gun with effect, both at Kutchuk 

Chekmediee, and in the waters of the Marmora and 

Duck. 
the Gulf of Ismidt, but the birds are usually too shy to 

give a common 12-bore any chance of bagging more than a stray one 
now and then. Occasionally, during severe snowy weather, a score 
or two may be shot along the coast between Stamboul and San 
Stefano in a steam-launch, but duck shooting has no claim to be 
counted as one of the sports of Turkey. 

The principal and best shooting round Constantinople is un- 
doubtedly afforded by woodcock, and there are few places where this 

bird is found in such numbers during so long a period. 

Woodcock. 
The first cock usually arrive about the third or fourth 

week of September, and they may be shot up to the middle of 
February, and even in March and April on the return passage. The 
real flight, however, takes place between the end of September and 
the middle of November, after which the birds found are those which 
have elected to stay over the season. The first cold wet weather in 
October is sure to bring in large flocks, but a few fine days send them 
all up to the mountain-tops, only to be driven down by another snow- 
storm. If the snow is heavy and continuous, all the cock huddle 



428 SPORT IN EUROPE 

down on the seashore, and enormous bags have been made on a few 
such occasions. Over a hundred have several times been shut by one 
gun on the islands in the Marmora and the Gulf of Ismidt, and 1 
remember on one afternoon when unfortunately 1 happened to be out 
after wild boar, and had only ball cartridges with me, seeing the- cock 
literally in hundreds at Dil Bournou, in the Gulf of I smith, on tin- 
low, marshy ground near the sea. Next day, the weather having 
become milder, there were comparatively few, but the recollection of 
that missed opportunity will never be effaced from my regretful 
memory. Two or three guns, I believe, might have shot three 
hundred without any difficulty. Dil Bournou is about three hours' 
steam from Constantinople. Other favourite resorts of cock are the 
districts of Touzla, Guebzeh, Denizly, and Ovadjik. These coverts 
are preserved by Sir W. Whittall, or at least a large portion of them, 
and in the season of 1898 his bag amounted to over 2,000 cock. 
They are within easy reach of Constantinople. The best cock 
shooting on the strictly European ground is at Cherkesskeui, about 
three hours down the main European line. The- coverts there are 
low and easy, and two years ago at least twelve hundred cock were 
shot to my knowledge in the coverts within a radius of three miles 
of the railway. At present, however, all the Cherkesskeui shooting; 
has been rented, and is not open. At times, good bags can be made 
in Belgrade Forest, behind Therapia, and now and again a lucky 
sportsman has fallen upon a big flight at the moment of their arrival 
round Kilios. The neighbourhood of Pyrgos and Petnokhory. within 
three hours' drive, sometimes affords very good sport indeed, whilst 
the Sultan's farm half an hour from Pera almost invariably holds 



TURKEY 



429 



from a dozen to twenty or thirty woodcock. Candilli, on the opposite 
side of the Bosphorus, over against Bebek, is also an easy place to 
get to, and a tolerably sure find, but the covert is thick and the hills 
steep. 

Wild boar and roedeer abound between the Gulf of Ismidt 




BAG AT CHAOUSH CHIFTLIK, JANUARY ist, 
(Eighleen Wild Boar rind two Deer) 



and the Black Sea. A part of the Belgrade Forest is preserved 
by Abram Pasha, but there is no longer any con- 
siderable head of game there. Cherif Pasha, the 



Boar and 
Roedeer. 



present Ottoman Minister at Stockholm, also preserves 
at Chaoush Chiftlik, on the Gulf of Ismidt, and the record bags 
of wild boar have been made on his property. I myself was one 
of a party which in one afternoon, one day, and a couple of hours 
the following morning, killed eighteen pig, two roedeer, and a 
few dozen cock. The heaviest pig on that occasion weighed 102 
kilos clean. The heaviest I have shot weighed 125, and measured 



43© SPORT IN EUROPE 

6 feet 2 inches from snout to tail tip. This was killed at Ovadjik, 
in Sir W. Whittall's preserves, but it was easily beaten b\ one shot 
there this season by the owner, which weighed 185 kilos. Besides 
pig" and roe, jackals are fairly numerous, anil an occasional uoll is 
shot. Hares, though perpetually harried by native sportsmen, 
survive in miraculous fashion; and, though never found in numbers, 
are sprinkled over the whole country. 



II.— FISHIXG 

I now turn from the gun to the rod and line. The fresh -water 

angler will find very little to tempt him in European Turkey. 

Most of the mountain streams hold very small trout, 

_. , . but they are never allowed to attain any size. In 

Fishing. ' 

Albania, in Lake Ochrida, and Scutari Lake, there 
are fine lake -trout, but they are difficult to take. The Sweet 
Waters of Europe and the Kutchuk Chekmedjee Lake are full 
of pike, which run to some size, but they are gradually being 
thinned out. The most successful bait is a spoon, with which a 
dozen may easily be basketed, averaging from 5 to 10 lbs. each. 

Sea fishing is to be had at all seasons. The most sporting 
fish are the leverak, or sea bass ; the merdjian, a sort of sea- 
bream, and the Infer, a species of herring. The leverak 
requires fine tackle and some art to entrap him into taking 
the shrimp which is spun behind a boat. When hooked he 
fights to the death, and as he runs up to 30 and 40 lbs., he 
affords real sport. The merdjian lives in thirty or forty fathoms 



TURKEY 431 

of water, in the neighbourhood of a sunken rock which has to 

be sedulously baited. His favourite food is a peculiar 

Sea Fishing. 
kind of crab from the Jewish village of Hasskeui 

which is prepared for him without the shell. He runs also very 
large, and fights as hard as the leverak. The lufer is a capri- 
cious feeder, and every trick has to be tried to take him, as he in 
turn tries every trick to break or bite through the line when once 
hooked. There is another sea monster resembling a huge 
merdjian, called the sinagridi, but he is usually angled for 
with trimmers buoyed up with large gourds. The sinagridi 
runs up to 60 lbs. or more. Besides these, there are the pala- 
mout, a large kind of mackerel, which come down the Bosphorus in 
myriads every autumn, making the water boil with their numbers. 
They are fished for with an endless line, i.e. a hook at both ends, 
one being paid out as the other is being drawn in. No bait 
is used, but merely hooks set in lead polished with quicksilver and 
adorned with a tuft of feathers. It is easy to catch a hundred of 
these, but somewhat fatio-uing\ as the motion is as endless as the 
line, and the palamout fight. The only other fish which may 
be mentioned is the scombri, a sort of miniature mackerel. They 
are caught with leger-lines, heavily weighted and furnished with 
from fifteen to thirty hooks, according to the skill of the fisherman. 

The hooks are bare except for a small heron's feather tied to 
the shank. Very fine gut is used, and every hook ought to take 
its fish. There is not very much art required to catch them, as 
they hook themselves more or less, but it is by no means easy to 
haul in a string of twenty or thirty fish on such fine tackle. 



432 SPORT IN EUROPE 

Personally, I should recommend the amateur not to use more 

than fifteen hooks. 



To conclude these remarks on sport ill Turkey, 1 have only 

to add a few words on climate and dress. In all low-lying districts, 

wherever they may be, fever is invariably prevalent, 
Climate. 

and, as a precaution, it will do nobodv any harm to 

take a 5-grain tabloid of quinine with his glass of whisky before 

going to bed. Warm underclothing and a light shooting jacket of 

khaki are the most serviceable dress. The native waistcoat is, in my 

opinion, superior to any Western pattern. Our waistcoats are warm 

in front and thin in the back, the most vulnerable point. The 

Turk wears a waistcoat made of shayak, or homespun. 
Dress. 

which buttons over the left shoulder and over the 

left hip. Across the waist are two large, deep pockets, in which 

cartridges of different sizes may be kept, with two other pockets 

over each breast. The back is thus well protected, and cartridges 

are much better preserved from drippings in wet covert than when in 

outside jacket pockets, and are less irksome to carry than in a belt, 

the weight depending principally from the shoulders. In fact, if 

one of our fashionable sporting tailors were to start this model, it 

could scarcely fail to be universally adopted. 

The question of foot-gear is always a moot point. The most 

experienced and practical sportsmen in the East are, I think, in 

favour of one or two pair of thick knitted stockings and a pair of 

either light canvas shoes or native sandals. The feet will get wet in 

snow or slushy ground, but the walker "goes light,' and, as long as he 



TURKEY 



433 




MR. A. G. HULME BEAMAN 



2 F 



434 



SPORT IN EUROPE 



is moving, does not get chilled. The ordinary shooting boot is 

too heavy and seldom keeps out the wet through a long day, 
especially when there are chances of slipping in up to the knee 
or having to cross small streams. 

Even for snipe shooting I personal!)' prefer low shoes, though 
there is much to be said for a combination of a pair of stockings, 
very light waders, another pair of stockings, and brogues, or light 
boots or shoes, over all. If, however, one happens to stumble into 
a ditch over the waders, the rest of the day is misery. 




PEREGRINE FALCON 



BALKAN STATES 





I i i[ DEN PLOVER 



' '.<■•• <37 



SERVIA, MONTENEGRO, ALBANIA 
AND BULGARIA 

By A. G. HULME BEAMAN 

I.— SERVIA 

\ S far as I am aware, the sporting opportunities of Servia have 
■^ *- never been thoroughly explored, and, owing to the lamentable 
destruction of its forests, whatever big game ever existed there has 
probably already been exterminated, or soon will be. There are, 
however, still a certain number of boar and roe wherever the covert 
favours them, as the Servian peasant, like the Roumanian, is not 
much addicted to the chase. During the passage of woodcock and 
quail, these birds are of course to be found, sometimes in fair quanti- 
ties, near Belgrade, though the best shooting is preserved in the 
royal park of Topshidereh. The most sporting districts in Servia 
are those of Nisch and Krushevatz. Quail especially are killed in 
thousands round Nisch, where there is also some snipe shooting. 
On the hills round Nisch I have also found the little bustard, which, 
personally, I have never come across elsewhere in the Balkans. The 
small mountain streams mostly hold trout of microscopic size, but 
they are too much netted for the angling to be worth mentioning. In 
the Danube and Save the only line-fishing is for pike and carp. 

437 



438 SPORT IN EUROPE 

The latter run large and arc fished for by laying out several lines, 
each of which is passed over a slit in a slender slip of bamboo or 
whalebone, a foot or so long. This slip is planted in the ground 
and a bell attached to it, which rings as soon as a carp or eel begins 
paying attentions to the other end. 

The foregoing may appear a very meagre account ol a country 
of large extent, but, from an acquaintance with Servia extending over 
some considerable period, I do not think it merits any iurther re- 
commendation to the sportsman. 



H._MONTENEGRO 

Neither does Montenegro present many greater attractions. The 
country is extremely rocky and stiff to work in, and, as the natives 
are all armed with rifles, there is not much big game. Partridges 
and hares are, however, well sprinkled over the whole mountain, ami 
in a good year there is quite excellent woodcock shooting near 
Cettinje and Podgoritza. At the latter place, and at Antivari there 
used to be pheasants, but I believe they have of late years been 
mostly shot down. Montenegro has no customs dues, and sports- 
men or tourists are free to bring in what they wish. 



III.— ALBANIA 



Albania is, properly speaking, a part of Turkey, but it may be 
more conveniently grouped with Montenegro. There is not the same 



ALBANIA 439 

difficulty in importing rifles and cartridges, which can be more easily 
smuggled there than at Constantinople, or landed without much 
trouble opposite Corfu, or off a yacht at any point between San 
Giovanni di Medua and Prevesa. There is very pretty mixed 
shooting along the whole coast, consisting of partridges, ■ 
pheasants, snipe, duck, quail, hare, and in October, 
November and December the best of woodcock, not 
to mention wild boar and roedeer. Sportsmen hitherto have 
mostly confined their operations to Alessio, and Butrinto or other 
spots opposite Corfu, but the whole seaboard affords splendid chances, 
especially at the mouths of the rivers and along the course of the 
Skumbi to Elbassan. 

Scutari is also a capital centre, there being plenty of partridges 
within half an hour of the town, with quantities of snipe and wood- 
cock within easy distance in November and December. 

Trout abound in all the streams running" into the lakes of Scutari 

and Ochrida, both from the Montenegrin and Albanian side of the 

former. At Rieka I have had pretty baskets, and the markets of 

Scutari and Monastir are well supplied with the big 

Trout, 
lake - trout from these two reservoirs. They are 

generally taken with nets, but will also feed greedily on the grass- 
hopper or minnow. I could never wish for better luck than six 
weeks with rod and gun in this district between October and 
Christmas. 



440 SPORT IN EUROPE 

IV.— BULGARIA. 

I now come to Bulgaria, a country with which I have a closer 

acquaintance than with the preceding. A stranger will require several 

days in order to procure his shooting licence, as, under Prince 

Ferdinand, the game laws have been revised and strictly enforced. 

Non-residents need to find two sureties and to fulfil 

. . several tedious formalities before obtaining' their Ics- 

Licence. 

kerehs. There are, however, no obstacles put in the way 
of importing rifles and ammunition, the best route being via Bourgas. 
Sofia, the capital, is a neat, pretty little city with excellent rail- 
way communications. The climate is certainly one of the best in 
the world, being dry and warm in summer and exhilarating in winter. 
Within easy drive of the hotels one can find several prolific marshes 
and a certain amount of woodcock covert. Quail breed all round 
Sofia in large numbers, and half a hundred can easily be bagged 
in the early autumn at any time. 

The marshes hold numbers of snipe and duck, and afford ex- 
cellent sport. There are here and there dangerous places, and no 

stranger should venture on them alone for the first 
n , time, especially on the Tuni Sviet bog. which is one 

of the best, but sprinkled with bleached bones of 
drowned cattle. Besides the ordinary snipe, in the spring and 
autumn, the double snipe visits Bulgaria. Though never shot in 
anything approaching the numbers which swell the bag of the 
St. Petersburg sportsman, it is not out of the way to bring back 
between a dozen and twenty of this beautiful and luscious bird. 



BULGARIA 44 i 

Partridges and hares are scarce round Sofia, but during the passage 

there is very pretty woodcock shooting. The flight rarely lasts more 

than a fortnight, but, if the weather is favourable, ten to twelve 

brace can be shot in a short day. A companion and myself once 

started out from the club after lunch on hearing the 

Woodcock. 
cock were in, and were back for afternoon tea 

with fifty-two cock, which we shot on the lower slopes of the 

Vitosh. This mountain rises from the Sofia plain and dominates 

the town. A few roedeer are now and again seen and shot close 

to the town, and one day my friend Count Starzensky, one of the 

keenest and best sportsmen I have ever known, had khubr of a 

family of wolves on the top. An hour and a half s climb took us 

to the spot, and we tied up a lamb without success. 

Wolves. 
Next morning, though, the Count took a snapshot 

at about 220 yards at a galloping wolf, and had the satisfaction of 

finding it dead behind the rock, where we had lost sight of it. 

The newly-constructed line to Radomir has opened up a new 
country for partridges, hares, and quails, and I have had some nice 
shooting- at the terminus. Pernik is another village close to Sofia 
by train, where, with luck, a big bag of grey partridges, not to men- 
tion countless quail, may be made. The streams on the Vitosh hold 
small trout, as, in fact, do all the mountain rivulets in Bulgaria. 

A day and a half from Sofia lies the Monastery of Rilo, on the 

Rhodope. I made a trip there with Count Starzensky to look after 

chamois, which were vaguely reported to exist on the 

& ' r Chamois. 

summits. We began the ascent, but were overtaken 

with such bad weather that I returned. My companion, however, 



442 SPORT IN EUROPE 

persisted, and after two days and nights, one of which was spent 

on a ledge a yard or so wide, exposed to the storm, he returned with 

a chamois on his hack. Since then Prince Ferdinand has had several 

"drives" for chamois, but I believe has not succeeded in bagging 

any, although a herd ran through His Highness's picnic camp and was 

fired at by the servants. I have also seen and shot roedeer at Kilo, 

where the magnificent, almost virgin, forests probably also hold the 

red stag and the capercailzie. 

Whilst my companion was facing" the storm on the top of the 

Kilo mountain, I was basking" in the sunshine along the hanks ol the 

stream which supplies the monastery, and flinging the trout out of 

the crystal water on to the grass with a home-made 
Trout. 

rod and tackle, consisting of horsehair and a barbless 

hook fashioned out of a hairpin, beaten, tempered, and sharpened 
on a stone. I used a small green grasshopper, and creeled five 
dozen, averaging from a quarter to three-quarters of a pound. It 
was said that there were larger ones lower down, but I have 
never yet caught a trout of a pound weight in any Balkan river, 
nor have I ever seen one caught by anybody else. The reason of 
this is that the natives net the narrow places and dynamite the 
deeper pools to such an extent that the wretched fish never have 
a chance. 

To the best of my knowledge, Bulgaria is the only country south 
and east of Austria where the capercailzie is found, although it may 
exist in Servia and in some of the Macedonian mountains. The 
discovery was due, again, to Count Starzensky, who located and shot 
two or three at Samakov. Since then Prince Ferdinand has 



BULGARIA 443 

frequently been out on the spring tok with success, both at Sama- 

kov and Petrokhan, the highest point on the Sofia- 
Capercailzie. 
Lorn Palanka road. 

This species of sport — the stalking and bagging of the love-lorn 
capercailzie in April — has never had great charms for me ; indeed, 
when I have succeeded in approaching the bird, I have frequently 
let him fly off. 

I therefore never pursued capercailzie in Bulgaria, but, both from 
native report and signs, I am convinced that they thrive all over the 
Rhodope, especially at Rilo, Samakov and Koprishtitza. 

This latter village I would particularly recommend to the notice 
of any enterprising sportsman. It lies about two days' drive from 
Sofia, along the old Constantinople road, as far as Zlatista. The 
Turkish name of the mountain is Avret Alan. The whole of the 
slopes up to the summit are most beautifully wooded with magnificent 
old trees and park-like stretches of sward. It was once a famous 
brigand country, and I myself explored it, accompanied by six 
notorious brigands. At the present day, though, I doubt if there 
is the slightest risk in a visit there. 

Acres and acres were ploughed up by the snouts of wild boar, and 
in the course of two days my companions drove past me five herds of 
grand red stag. As it was the month of April, I was not shooting. 
I also lay out one fine evening to listen for capercailzie and heard two, 
though I did not manage to get a sight of either of them. Of wild 
pig I saw a score or two. 

I then and there made an inward vow to return to Koprishtitza 
in the autumn, but have never had the opportunity of giving myself 



444 



SPORT IN EUROPE 



this treat, so make a present of the suggestion to someone possibly 
more lucky. I have seen several very fine heads from this district, 
and the photographs represent two of them. Unfortunately, the 
barbarian severed the horns from the skull. The photograph was 
kindly made on purpose for this article by Mr. U. Zenoff, the owner. 




RED DEER FROM PIRDOP (RHODOPE), 1897 
(In the possession of M. Zenoff, of Sofia) 

Spread between two outside tines, 44I inches 
Spread between inside of horn 35J ,, 
Length along inside curve 38 
Circumference at base 8) ,, 
Circumference between be? and trez, 7 ., 



Bulgaria is one of the few spots in Europe where genuine and 

absolutely wild pheasants are found in fair numbers. The best-known 

ground is Yamboli on the Sofia-Bourgas railway. The 

_, coverts there are preserved by Prince Ferdinand, who. 

Pheasants. ■ ' 

however, seldom shoots over them, and would probablv 



BULGARIA 445 

give leave to any properly recommended persons. They are, however, 
very dense and thorny and want persistent beating. 

At Bourgas, however, there is, or used to be, free pheasant-shoot- 
ing, no whit inferior to that of Yamboli. The covert is likewise very 




RED DEER FROM KOPRISHTITZA (RHODOPE), 1890 
(In the possession of M. Zenoff, of Sofia) 

Length from tip to base 41^ inches 

Circumference at base 9 „ 

Circumference between bez and trez, "]\ „ 

[As the horns are not mounted on their own skull no spread measurement can be given, but it 
is authentically stated as over 47 inches.] 

tangled and protected with masses of "wait-a-bit" thorn of the worst 
description. With a patient, persevering dog, though, I have had good 
sport there alone, and two or three guns with beaters might make 
a pretty bag, as there is no lack of birds. The Bourgas lakes also 
swarm with wild fowl of every description, and, whilst I was shooting 



446 SPORT IN EUROPE 

pheasants, a companion in a boat brought back, two 
Wild Fowl. ' 

wild swans and a big parcel of duck. 

The neighbourhood of Philippopolis used to be a fine ground, 

though a considerable portion of the extensive marshes has been 

drained and the forests felled. Snipe, full. jack, ami 

___ . , double, were plentiful, and the woodcock shooting was 
Woodcock. ' 

first-class. Whilst after woodcock near Philippopolis, I 

once shot two large wild cats, which are comparatively rare over the 

Balkan peninsula. 

I never came across a bear in Bulgaria, though very decent skins 

are brought in from time to time. The Balkan bear 
Bears. 

is small and mean compared to the Russian. 

Large flocks of bustard are sometimes seen round Sofia, and. 

whilst shooting woodcock at Grublihan, 1 met a peasant driving in 

half a score of these great birds with a switch. It had 
Bustard. ° 

rained hard, and suddenly the temperature had fallen 

so as to freeze all the wing feathers and incapacitate the bustard 

from flight. The man had surprised them and securely tied them 

up, being then able to conduct them like turkeys. It is said that 

this is of frequent occurrence. There is no reason why the bustard 

should not be shot in Bulgaria with a rifle, as is the habit in 

Roumania, but with a gun he is difficult to approach. Some of 

the Bulgarian peasants are keen sportsmen ami habitually shoot 

snipe, which is a bird wasting too much powder for most professionals. 

Whilst on the marshes one day. I noticed a native tire from time 

to time, but always along the ground. My curiositv 
Snipe. 

being finally aroused, I went up to see what he was 



BULGARIA 



447 



shooting at, and found that he was, like myself, after snipe. He could 

see them, however, sitting, declaring that he first caught sight of 

their eyes. His vision must have been extraordinary, and I scarcely 

believed him until I saw him kill one. The only other places I would 

mention are Tirnovo and Sarambey for partridges. At one time 

they swarmed round both these towns, but were so much shot down 

that they were specially protected a few years ago. The general 

enforcing of the new game laws has also had a beneficial effect, 

and Bulgaria may safely be expected ere long to be one of the 

best free sporting countries in Europe. Round 

Partridges. 
Sarambey the partridges are found both in the 

vineyards and maize fields, which also shelter quantities of hares, 

and all the plain is covered with quail in the autumn. The peasantry 

in Bulgaria are rough, but good-natured. They are, however, so 

well-to-do and independent that it is not always easy to get a man 

to carry lunch, cartridges and game, which, when it comes to a 

dozen partridges and three or four hares, is a weighty consideration. 

In reviewing the sporting capabilities of the Balkans, it may be 

said that the districts which would most surely repay a visit are 

Koprishtitza, the Rilo, and the Albanian coast. The 

latter has always been celebrated, but it is still little „ 

3 Centres. 

shot over. The two former are almost virgin ground. 

The only fishing worth mentioning is at Rilo and in the Albanian 

lakes. 



APPENDIX 



APPENDIX 

SEA FISHING IN EUROPE 

By THE EDITOR 



ANYONE with a knowledge of the Continental sporting taste would have 
-^*- expected the gun, even if not perhaps in quite the extreme degree 
noticeable in the foregoing pages, to monopolise most of the available space 
in a composite work on Sport in Europe. Fishing is confined, in many 
Continental countries, to the poorer class, whose methods are generally 
antiquated, and generally also stand on the border line between sport and 
poaching ; in some, the wealthier sporting classes are gradually introducing, 
by way of experiment, English methods of hatching, preserving, and even 
catching fish ; while in one or two, the best fishing waters are in the hands 
of English sportsmen either residing abroad or else visiting those parts during 
the salmon season. One branch of fishing has, however, been neglected 
beyond the rest, and that is sea fishing. It cannot, perhaps, be claimed 
that angling in salt water has finally established itself in the minds of all 
as a sport, even at home, but it has at any rate gained of late years 
many adherents, for reasons that it is here unnecessary to set down. Having 
regard, then, for its somewhat uncertain position, it has been thought best, 
without breaking the continuity of the foregoing accounts with any intro- 
duction of notes on sea fishing, to offer in the form of an appendix a few 
notes on the sea fishing of Europe viewed generally. With the exception 
of a casual mention of weevers on the Dutch coast, and of the "lufer" and 
" leverak " in Turkish waters, contributors have consistently neglected this 
branch of sport 

451 



45 2 



APPKND1X 



The English Channel, Baltic and Mediterranean all afford their own 
characteristic sport, in great measure dependent <>n the nature of the fish 
which is in turn determined by the character of the sea bed, the saltness of the 
water, the number of considerable rivers having their estuaries in the neighbour- 
hood, and a variety of other physical conditions. The migrations of fishes, which 
are now regarded as less considerable than naturalists formerly thought them 




A CORNISH HARBOUR 



do not as a rule extend beyond the confines of a sea, consisting, for the 
most part, of movements to and fro along the coast, or from the shallow 
to the deeper water and back again. Occasionally, however, these movements 
are more extended, as in the case of the sardines having followed their 
scattered larval food down the entire western seaboard of Europe and past 
the islands that lie off the Barbary coast. This concerns the angler only 
in so far as the pilchards — which are identical with the sardine of commerce — 
are in their turn followed by bas> and other sporting fish of large size, being, 
in fact, excellent bait for nmst of the large fish found in the Cornish waters 



SEA FISHING IN EUROPE 453 

that they frequent. The sea-fisherman depends in Cornwall entirely on the 
harvest of the red-winged luggers for his bait. The pollack and bass of those 
waters seem used to a diet of pilchards, and expect it as their due. As a 
converse, however, of the efficacy of a bait locally plentiful, I have sometimes 
found that ragworms or soft crab, procured by post from a distance, tempt the 
most fish on parts of the coast on which the physical conditions preclude all 
chance of these baits constituting the natural food of local species. In his 
approaches, therefore, to the palates of his fish, the angler must rely sometimes 
on the charm of novelty, at others on the force of habit. 

As in other forms of angling, season plays a considerable part in deter- 
mining not only what kinds of fish shall be caught, but also in what manner. 

Thus, to go no further than our own coasts, there are two 

... ... Seasons. 

distinct sea-fishing seasons, which may be roughly determined 

as the summer and winter seasons, with this qualification— that the methods 

practised in summer are productive of good results until the end of September, 

while the so-called winter season lasts from October until January inclusive. 

After this, for at any rate three months, sea-fishing is, except for the very 

patient or the very fortunate, in abeyance. The fish mostly caught in summer 

are the grey mullet, mackerel, bass and pollack ; and the favourite methods 

are whiffing and railing and the drift -line, terms that will be hereinafter 

explained. In winter the angler looks for cod and whiting, with some other 

less-desired kinds, and he uses the paternoster and leger, or, in rough-and-tumble 

weather, throw-out lines from the beach — a style of fishing particular!} - in 

vogue on our east coast. 

Then, again, there are still wider distinctions between the methods in 

favour on piers or in boats. Finer tackle can, as a rule, be used in the 

shallower water commanded by piers, and the fish are generally 

.... . . . . r 11 • Pier and 

— though this is a rule with many exceptions — of smaller size „ 

& } K Boat. 

and less variety. Longer rods are used from piers, and are, 

indeed, often a necessity to clear the wood or iron work ; and float tackle, 

in close imitation of the method familiar in fresh water, is also more practicable 

from piers than in a boat, where the angler sits too close to the surface to 

exercise proper control over his float. If the sea were often so calm as 



454 



APPENDIX 



to allow of the Thames arrangement of punt and chair, very excellent fl".it 
fishing might be had in many of our bays; but such is unfortunately not 
the case. Another obvious distinction when angling from pier or boat lies 
in the fact that it is only in a boat that the angler can practise trolling, 
or the kindred method known to amateur sea-fishermen as railing, otherwise 
towing baits in the wake of the boat. This is the favourite way of taking 
summer mackerel and, in some parts, pollack and bass. Personally, I have 
always taken all my best pollack on the drift line; but my experieno 
really good pollack fishing is practically confined to Cornish waters, and 
I believe that there are parts of the Scotch and Irish coasts on which pollack 
and coal fish of the largest size are taken on the railing line 

Coming for a moment from the methods to the fish themselves, then- 
are three categories, which, although they overlap in many particulars, it may 
be of interest and use to distinguish before proceeding further. 

There are the rock fish and the sand fish. The former include the i o 
pollack, bream, whiting-pout and a (ew others. The sand fish include cod, 

whiting, plaice and other flat fish, grey mullet, herring, weevers, 

Rock Fish and , \ . . , ,, r , , , . , 

and athermes. Almost all of these are also caught on either 

Sand Fish. 

kind of ground, but the angler might fairly expect to find 

them as above assigned. To the sand fish might perhaps have been added 

the gurnards, the scad and garfish (both of which foregather with the shoals 

of mackerel), and the dory. The launce, or sand ee+s;- are also, of course, 

sand fish, but these are interesting to the angler only as the most killing 

all-round bait in the sea. Bass occur on both soft and rough ground. 

Another distinction of equally practical interest to the sportsman is that 

which may be drawn between the fish that feed near the surface and those 

that take a bait only on, or near, the bottom. As in rivers 

_ . and lakes, the former are the "game" fish, including the bass, 

Ground 

Feeders pollack, mackerel, and, in some cases, the grey mullet. Any 

and all of these will in certain circumstances take a fly, and 

all, except the grey mullet, will, when in the mood, take a spoon bait or 

other artificial lure. Personally, I have not found fly-fishing a successful 

method in salt water, though "John Bickerdyke." one of the greatest living 



SEA FISHING IN EUROPE 455 

authorities on sea angling, and the pioneer of popularising rod-fishing in the 

sea, has practised and preached it with equal success. Again, although pollack 

may undoubtedly be taken close to the surface, particularly soon after sunrise 

and just before sunset, all my largest pollack — those of ten, twelve, and fifteen 

pounds in weight — were taken on, or near, the bottom, with a few perhaps at 

about midway down in a total depth of thirty fathoms, or a hundred and 

eighty feet. 

The third division that may be made is that between the migratory and 

non-migratory fish — the mackerel, herrings, bass, cod, whiting and pilchards 

on the one hand ; and the stationary flat fish, conger, gurnard, 

red mullet and rays on the other. Here again, however, we Migratory 

must allow for considerable doubt in some cases, as the regular 

migratory 
and irregular movements of fish are as yet very imperfectly p: s h e c 

understood. All we know, in fact, is that the cod and whiting 

are with us in the colder weather, but absent from most parts of the coast in 

summer; that the mackerel, on the contrary, are in greater evidence (partly 

perhaps through their habit of shoaling at the surface in hot weather) in the 

months of June and July than at any other time of year; and that the dory 

and garfish find their way to the fishmonger's chiefly in March. One day, 

no doubt, we shall know a good deal more ; but for the present, an open 

confession of ignorance seems best in keeping with the state of our knowledge. 

With these introductory remarks, I shall now briefly notice the sport 

obtainable on the coasts of England and France, as well as in parts of the 

Baltic and Mediterranean seas, both of which differ widely in their conditions 

from the more open seas, as well as one from the other. 



456 APPENDIX 

I.— THE ENGLISH CHANNEL 

The chief conditions of which the scientific angler has to take note in the 
English Channel arc the following: no great depth of water, particularly 

inshore; strong and regular flow of tides between the open Atlantic and the 
narrow German Ocean; great variety of shore soil and sea bed. with alternating 
stretches of rock, shingle, sand and mud. Taking in order the half-dozen 
Channel counties, that include Kent and Cornwall and all between, the 
following distinctive coast features may be enumerated : — 

KENT.— Beach shingly; cliffs chalk; several harbours; the Stour the 
only considerable estuary. 

SUSSEX. — Beach shingly, with breakwaters ; cliffs sandstone, but much 
P ■ -■ intervening low foreshore, as at Pevensey and in Brighton 

the Channel district ; at low tide, long stretches of sand, witli parallel low 
Counties. reefs of rocks; only three harbours and the Arun estuary. 

HAMPSHIRE. — Low, sandy shore; cliffs considerable only near Bournemouth : 
two considerable estuaries — Southampton Water and the joint estuary of Stour 
and Avon at Mudeford salmon run ; much of the shore under lee of the Isle 
of Wight, therefore calm and shallow seas and curious reflex tidal action. 

Dorset. — Low, sand)- shore, except close to Lulworth Cove, where are 
high cliffs and rocky sea bed. One considerable harboiTr, Poole. 

SOUTH DEVON. — Sandy shore; sandstone cliffs; rocky sea bed; estuaries. 
Exmouth, Teignmouth, Dartmouth, Plymouth. 

South Cornwall. — Rocky shore; high cliffs, with fewer breaks of sandy 
beach than further east ; comparatively deep water close inshore ; estuaries at 
Looe, Eowey and Falmouth ; clay-water in neighbourhood of Pentewan clay 
works: increasing influence of .Atlantic swell. 

It would be easy, though serving no useful purpose, to enter in greater 
detail into these features of the coast line and sea bed. The importance t>> 
the systematic sea -angler of even the few particulars here enumerated 
is very considerable. He knows that a rocky coast should give him 



SEA FISHING IN EUROPE 457 

pollack, conger and bream fishing. In a sand)' neighbourhood he will 

look for mackerel, whiting, bass and flat fish. Harbours 

and estuaries mean for him bass and grey mullet, and greater Meaning of 

facilities for embarking and disembarking than are available 

An o*1 Pt" 
on an open coast. Where there are cliffs, he will probably 

find convenient spots for fly fishing or spinning from the rocks. 

The methods employed by the amateur sea-fisherman on our coasts reach 
the highest perfection yet known in this form of sport. Here and there, it is 
true, the Genoese or Basque or Neapolitan will surprise us by some particularly 
ingenious use of ground bait, or by remarkably skilful manipulation of 
abnormally long bamboo rods and fine tackle ; but, on the whole, our expert 
amateur sea-fishermen are much further in advance of their brother anglers 
in Continental countries than can fairly be claimed in the case of the 
professionals. Some measure of this difference may perhaps be accounted 
for by the fact, already noted, that, with the exception of exiled Britons, the 
vast majority of amateur sea-fishermen in other countries belong solely to 
the poorer class, and there is no one to correspond to our many yachting 
men who are also on occasion keen sea fishermen. As a result, the sport is 
followed on simple and economic lines, largely confined to operations from 
shore or pier, and therefore lacking all the improved tackles and sporting 
methods that we associate with boat-fishing. 

Our Continental friends differ widely in their merits as amateur sea 
fishermen. Speaking, so far as the venture is permissible, from personal ex- 
perience of the methods employed by one or two nations, I should be inclined 

to place the Italians after the English, the Spaniards third, the 

^ , , ~ , . , Continental 

hrench next, and the Germans last — an order strictly corre- „ . , 

Sea Anglers. 
sponding to the proportion of coast line. The German, indeed, 

has but one qualification as a successful sea-angler, and that is his inex- 
haustible patience. I once knew a German professor of history at a University 
of which I was at the time a student, who was an ardent pike-fisher, and 
who, to my knowledge, one cold week in winter, walked for three days, rod 
in hand, on the shores of an ice-bound lake not half a mile from the Baltic. 
Not a run did he get until the afternoon of the third day, when his patient 



45« APPENDIX 

efforts were rewarded by three small jack. The Spaniards, again, would be 

capital sea-fishermen were it not for their indomitable laziness. Those among 

them who know that their living depends on skill and hard work are perhaps 

the most skilful netsmen and hand-liners on the threshold of the Mediterranean; 

but the amateurs are sadly lazy. They have, for example, a favourite, and 

very practical, plan of collaboration, in which one man angles from the rocks 

while his colleague keeps the fish round the hook by constantly throwing 

pellets of ground bait ; and positively I have seen a man choose the latter 

share in the work because, while getting half the spoil, he could earn it 

lying at full length, whereas the angler had to stand. 

It is not possible in the present notes to do more than enumerate the 

chief British methods of angling in salt water. Needless to say, anything 

in the nature of nets (beyond a landing net, or a seine for 

, , catching sand-eels as bait) or dynamite is rigidly eschewed, 

methods. 

though that explosive, made up with slow fuses, furnished a 

favourite form of "sport'' with some of my friends in Italy. 

Amateurs must catch their sea-fish from one of three situations : from 
a boat, from a pier or harbour, or from the foreshore-- be it sand, rock, or 
shingle. They use either the rod (in growing favour during the past ten or 
fifteen years) or the hand-line. A number (as the seven or eight hundred 
members of the " British Sea Anglers' Society," which I proposed and helped 
to found in 1893) are in a measure pledged to the use. of the rod; others 
prefer it only under favourable conditions, substituting the hand-line in very 
deep water, or when strong tides or currents necessitate the use of extra 
heavy leads that would put too great a strain on the rod. 

Fishing from pier or shore necessarily resolves itself into some form of 
what anglers across the Atlantic might term "still fishing." some pattern of 
paternoster or leger tackle, or some arrangement of rod and float line. In 
a few cases, I believe, fly-fishing is successfully practised from the rocks ; but 
of this I have had no practical experience. In boat fishing, however, not 
only are all these methods except, perhaps, the float tackle) feasible, but 
also others, as the "chopstick," a bowed spreader of wire or cane, made on 
various models, from the middle of which generally hangs the lead, the baited 



SEA FISHING IN EUROPE 459 

hooks being at either end. This, of course, is used with the craft at anchor 
Then there are the different forms of railing, whiffing, or (as it is called, 
from the form of lead, in Cornwall) " plummeting," practised under oars 
or light canvas, the general principle being to tow natural or artificial baits 
in the wake of the boat, attracting in pursuit bass, mackerel and other 
predatory fishes that are to be caught by such means. Among the baits 
used in this method are artificial flies and spinners and imitation rubber 
eels, as well as living sand-eels (caught in the seine-net, or dug with a fork 
from the wet sand near low-water mark), ragworms (dug from the soft mud 
of harbours uncovered by the ebb tide), or a strip of pilchard, or, better 
still, mackerel, cut from the side of the tail. The last-named is the only 
bait used in Cornwall, and with it I have known eight lines (all worked by 
one man, who also navigates the boat) kill their three and four hundred 
mackerel in a tide. This is, of course, only possible in the summer months 
and when the mackerel are very " thick " ; and four of the lines have to 
be kept clear of the other four by means of long cane spreaders fixed at 
right angles to the gunwale of the boat. 

Another very deadly method of fishing in a boat for mackerel or pollack 
in the tideway is with what is known as the drift-line. A single hook, baited 
with a living sand eel, two ragworms, or a strip of mackerel or pilchard, is 
attached to the end of a gut trace, single or double according to the size 
and fighting qualities of the fish expected, and the trace is allowed to 
drift at the end of thirty or forty fathoms of line with the tide. Little or 
no lead is used, and a rod may be used or not, the fineness of the lower 
gear making this method in any case particularly killing and artistic. The 
only drawback is that this is also the surest method of catching any prowling 
blue or porbeagle shark, a nuisance most likely to be encountered west 
of Plymouth. The living sand eels, perhaps the most killing bait for large 
fish in use on our coasts, are best kept alive in torpedo-shaped baskets, 
made, originally at any rate, in the Channel Islands, largely introduced to 
English fishermen by the late J. C. Wilcocks, and known as " courges." 

Perhaps the most capricious fish in English seas arc large grey mullet. 
At Leghorn, and elsewhere in the Mediterranean and South Atlantic, they 



460 



APPENDIX 



would seem to be less educated, for I have caught them in these part', without 

difficulty. On our coast, however, they are fanciful. There is some mullet 

fishing at the mouth of the Stour, and the smaller fish are, 

y ' very regrettably, caught in hundred- in Southampton Water 

and other estuaries, Plymouth among the number; but Littlehampton, at 




CORNISH BASS GROUND 



the mouth of the Arun, may fairly be called the headquarters of the 

Channel amateur mullet-fishing, and there are among the residents at that 
Sussex resort half a dozen enthusiasts, who have for years, during the three 
months or so that the mullet are inshore, fished every fine morning from 
the isolated structure at the end of the east works that bound the lowest 
stretch of the tidal Arun. They use rods and paternoster tackle an 
arrangement in which three or more hook- are strung above the lead at 



SEA FISHING IN EUROPE 



461 



intervals up a gut trace), and the bait is ragworm, procured from the mud flats 
a little way up the river. 

The mullet has been selected as a typically difficult fish, but the bass 
might have been substituted, for, like the mullet, it is very easily captured 
in its youth, but very hard to take when full grown. Often some novice, 
who does not know his good fortune, catches the finest bass 
of the season ; but, on the other hand, I have more than 
once fished right through a long summer's day, close to the rocks whitened 



Bass. 




ISASS FISHING IN THE RIVER TEIGN 



with many gulls, for a particular bass, sighted in the creek by someone looking 
down from the cliff, without any success. 

Conger-fishing in our seas is a sport apart — an experience involving all 
the novelty of sitting at night in an open boat. Want of space precludes 
any account of the tackle and baits, of the skill needed in 
hooking a large and wary conger, and the strength called 
for in getting it safely into the boat. Much of the procedure is a mere 
tug-of-war, somewhat foreign perhaps to the correct notion of sport, yet 



Conger. 



462 APPENDIX 

conger-fishing on a warm summer's night, with a fisherman who under- 
stands his work and knows the ground, is now and again an agreeable 
change. 

The reader must be referred to any of the existing handbooks fur full 
particulars of the capture of these and other British fishes— of the cod caught 

_ , _. , from the beach in autumn on the east coast with throw- 
Other Fish. 

out tackles baited with sprat or lugworm ; of the whiting 

caught out on the deep sandbanks; of the turbot, plaice and other flat fish 

caught with some soft bait or other on the sand. Mussel and lugworm are the 

best all-round baits for this ground-fishing, though the largest catches I ever 

made of plaice were on herring bait, and that was from a pier at the mouth 

of a river running into the Baltic. Much of the east coa>t of England i-, 

with the exception of stretches like that in the neighbourhood of Filey 

Brigg, flat and sandy, and the chief fishing is from the Suffolk beaches 

in autumn for cod and whiting. 

These, then, are a few notes on English sea-fishing. The Scotch and 
Irish coasts offer in man) - parts even better sport than the Channel. There 
are several associations of rock-fishers at Aberdeen, where they use eighteen- 
foot bamboo rods, and bait with mussel or soft crab, catching cod and saithe 
(i.e. coal fish , a near ally of the pollack. The rocky coast of the west of Ireland 
affords good fly-fishing for pollack during the latter jjart of the summer. 
Waterville and Valentia are capital centres for amateur sea-fishermen, and 
those who do not mind the ocean swell can have an exciting night's >port 
with hake. 



SEA FISHING IN EUROPE 463 

II.— THE BALTIC 

A very few words must suffice to describe the somewhat colourless sport 

obtainable in this land-locked, shallow, brackish sea. I have already mentioned 

the plaice caught on the Warnemiinde pier in Mecklenburg-Schwerin, and 

a further curiosity of that pier lies in the fact that such river 

i-i River Fish in 

fish as perch, bream, and even small pike, are hooked where „ . ... 

the light green sea waves mingle with the darker waters of 

the outflowing Warnow. I never found boat - fishing very successful, for 

the reason that no one knew the right grounds, and it was a mere matter 

of guesswork. A few small mackerel and an occasional garfish were the 

only results. The fishing in the river above its mouth seemed to be entirely 

in the hands of the professional netsmen, who watched very jealously any 

Englishman who might happen to take a boat. I have sometimes been 

accompanied for a couple of hours by one or more of these gentry, apparently 

occupied with anything rather than my movements, yet keeping their craft 

very close to my own. 

III.— THE FRENCH COAST 

The French coast offers sea fishing probably as good as our own, though 

little advantage seems to be taken of this, in many parts, by either Frenchmen 

or English residents. An exception may be cited in the case of Calais, of the 

fishing at which port readers of the Field are kept well informed by Mr. Charles 

Payton, H.B.M. Consul, who writes in that journal as "Sarcelle." Mr. Payton 

has kindly sent me a brief account of the fishing at Calais, 

Calais. 
from which I have extracted the following information : — 

Pollack and bass are scarce, but may be found on the rocky and weedy 

ground near Blanc Nez and Gris Nez, between Calais and Boulogne. The pier 

fishing is absolutely free and sometimes good. Lugworms for bait may be 

bought in the Courgain, or fishing quarter, or of lads and girls who dig them 

near the West Pier. Fine scad are caught from this pier on summer evenings, 

taking sardine or sprat bait freely. Also herring, going about six to the pound, 

have, since 1898, been caught in numbers from January to March in the Bassin 



4 6 4 



APPENDIX 



Carnot with the turlutc. or jigger, a large oval piece of bright metal, or a bit "f 
mirror glass in metal frame, with half a dozen hooks at various angles. This is 
used on a trace of salmon gut, with white hooks at short intervals above the 
jigger and a piece of blood-red silk on each. The jigger also takes cod, 
whiting, flat fish, and eels occasionally. One salmon-trout at any rate has 




been taken, live-baiting with sardine. Grey mullet are more often seen than 

caught. 

At Biarritz, in the company of the Basque fishers. I have had excellent 

whiting-fishing in March in a boat about two miles from the port. Some of 
the fish weighed as much as two pounds, and we caught over 
six score in a couple of hours. The two stone piers bristle at 

almost all times of year with very long rods, on which the Basque amateurs 

catch bass, mackerel and larLre wcevers. 



Biarritz. 



SEA FISHING IN EUROPE 



465 



IV.— THE SPANISH COAST 

With the exception of a few fairly successful outings off Algeciras and 
round by Catalan Bay, I know nothing of sea fishing in Spanish waters ; but 
Mr. Pablo Larios writes me from Gibraltar that he has had exciting sport 
with fair-sized tunny on rod and line in the vicinity of Tarifa. These fish, of 
which two photographs are here reproduced, promise to be a substitute for 
tarpon that may attract many who, with short holidays, like their fishing 
grounds near home. 

Mr. Larios conceived the idea of trying for these great fish in the Straits 
on English tackle, and the results have amply rewarded his experiments in 
a new field of sport, the fish running to over 50 lbs. weight. 




TUNNY CAUGHT WITH ROD AND LINE BY MR. PAULO LARIOS 



466 APPENDIX 



V.— THE MEDITERRANEAN 

I have no space to do justice to even my own experiences <>f fishing in 

this beautiful sea. I had, nine years ago, excellent grey mullet fishing at 

Leghorn in the private dock of the Ingenio Civile, bailitiL- 
Leghorn. 

with a paste made of arrowroot biscuit and pounded sardines 

and anchovies. The best time was between four and six in the morning, and 

some of the fish weighed over five pounds. Then, fishing at night from the 

Molo Nuovo, we used to catch large bream of different kinds, also muraenas, 

which look like spotted congers, dorados, and main- other kinds. 
Naples and , .. , x , . . r r . ,, ' ,, , 

At Naples I have seen quantities of fish, usually small, caught 

from the parade close to the Aquarium. At Genoa, Mr. Payton 

writes me, the larger fish are found only at some distance from shore, though 

large bass are sometimes caught among the shipping with a soaked piece 

of salt cod as bait. Grey mullet are taken in numbers in the muddy water 

near the rocks at the corner of the Molo Giano, with long rods and a i 

sometimes flavoured with old cheese. 

Mr. Hulme-Beaman mentioned in his article on Turkey the merdjian and 

Infer, the former a red sea-bream and the latter an unclassed sea fish not 

_ unlike a herring, as well as the leverak, which is our bass. 

Constantinople. 

In a later communication, he tells me that the lufer swim 

in shoals in deep water and have a favourite trick of severing the line with 

their sharp teeth. The hook is therefore soldered in the lead, which serves 

in a measure to protect it, and the fish is hauled very quickly, so as to prevent 

its swimming up faster and biting through the slack line above the lead. 



This must conclude these remarks on European Sea Fishing. Indeed, it 
is to be feared that, in spite of severe condensation throughout, the reader 
may not unjustly regard the Appendix as disproportionately long. 



INDEX 



Aar, Salmon in the, 351 

Aaro, Salmon in the, 302 

Abago, Mount, 403 

Aberdeen, 462 

Aberdeenshire, 372, 373 

Abram Pasha, 429 

Acarnania, 177 

Acclimatisation of Animals, 3, 87, 139 

JEgesLU Islands, 180 

yElian (quoted), 175, 195 f.n. 

Afghanistan, 180, 189 

African Big Game, Protection of, 8 

Alanos, 7, 320 

Alaskan Moose, 388 

Alba, Duke de, 322 

Albania, 194, 438 

Albufeira, 257 

Alcagovas, 245 

Alcala, Sierra of, 312 

Alemtejo, 245, 246, 252, 254, 257 

Alessio, 439 

Alfeite, Park of, 243, 264 

Alfonso XII., King, 309 

Algeciras, 312, 465 

Alhama, Sierra de, 317 

Alhaurin, 312 

Alichur Pamirs, 404 

Aliva, 319 

Allgaeu Club, 158 

Almada, 258 ' 

Almeria, 317 

Almoraima, 308 f.n. 

Almyros Bay, 176 

Alpine Club, 335 



Alps, 4, 9, 10, 29, 150, 157, 158, 164, 213, 219, 

224, 228, 232, 335, 343-6 
Alsace, 143, 150 

Altai Range, 9, 388, 398, 399, 401, 405, 406, 416 
Alten, Salmon in the, 302 
Alvensleben, Baron W., 160, 162 
Alvito, 245 

Ambleve, Parr in the, 91 
Amorgos, 190 

Ammunition, 198, 369, 419, 440 
Amur, 398 

Anatolian Sheep, 402 
Andalusia, 309, 320, 321, 328 
Andrassy, Count Gdza, 52, 73 
Andros, 187 

Antimilos, Ibex of, 10, 181, 183 
Antivari, 43S 

Antlers, 9, 55, 56, 150, 152, 153, 309, 397, 400 
Antwerp, 77, 89 
Aosta, 216 
Apennines, 213 
Apostica, 258 

Appian Road, Foxhunting on the, 235 
Aprica, 220, 221, 226 
Aracena, 250 

Araxes, Valley of the, 402 
Araxos, 194 
Arbel, Dr., 82 
Arcachon, 123 
Arcadia, 177, 178, 193 
Archduke Francis Ferdinand, 61 
Arctic Ocean, 388 
Ardennes, 4, 10, 83, 84, 86, 88, 91 
Argenteuil, 1 14, 130 



467 



4 68 



INDEX 



Argos, 193 

Argovie, 336, 337, 343-5, 347 

Argovie Harrier, 341 

Arion, Duke of, 308 En. 

Aristotle (quoted), 1S0 f n. 

Arlon, Wolves at, 85 

Arnoso, Count de (on Portugal), 5, 7, 241 

Aroche, 250 

Arun, Estuary of the, 456, 460 

Asia Minor, 186, 189 

— Deer of, 396 

Askold, 399 

Ason, Salmon in the, 330 

Association of Game Preservers (German), 76, 

148 
Asturias, 319, 330, 331 
Atalaya, Don Fernando Manoel, 256 
Athenxus (quoted), 174 
Athouguia, Yisconde d', 260 
Attica, 179, 193 
Aurochs, 393 
Austria, 10, 12, 19-43, 122, 12;, 157, 173, 205, 

3°8, 373 
Aveiro, 257, 258 
Avlona, Bay of, 200 
Avocet, 192 
Avret, Alan, 443 
Azambuja, 245 
Azinhal, 245 

Badger, 148, 263 

Baikal, Lake, 398 

Baillie-Grohman, Mr. W. A. ion Austria), 19 

Bakou, 397 

Balaton, Yachting on Lake, 74 

Bale-Campagne, 343, 345 

Bale-Yille, 343 

Balkans, 16, 425, 437 

Ballater, 381 

Baltic, 302,452,455,463 

Baltic Provinces, 38S 

Barahona, Snr. Francisco, 245 

Barbagia, 218 

Barbary Coast, 452 

Barbel, 91, 354 

Barby, 160, 162 



Bardeau, Count, 39 
Barreiros, E. M., 260 

Basque Fishermen, 457, 464 
Bass, 430,453. 454,457,461 
Basset Hounds, [21, 343 
Bas Valais, 348 
Bdlards, 113, 114, 207 
Battue, 85, 124, 205, 313, 343 
Bavaria, 10, 14S, 153. 158, 164 

— Duke Charles Theodor of, 15S 

— Duke Louis of, 158 
Beagles, 81, 113 

Beaman, Mr. A. ('.. Ilulmc urn Turkey . 8, 419 

Bean Goose, 413 

Bear, 11, 51, 213, 263, 265, 2S1, 289, 291, 308, 

3°9. 319. 320, 345. 387, 39°. 3" 

425- 446 
" Beard" of the Chamois, 159 
Beaters, 36, 67, 86, iod, 158, 160, 214, 291, 376, 

3S9 
Beauce, 130 
Beauffort, Count de, 80 
Beaulieu, Count Duval de, 82 
Bebek, 429 

Bebenburg, Baron Kan. 1 58 
Beira Alia, 253 
Belgium, 6, 12, 77-94, 132 

— Prince Albert of, 80 
Belgrade Forest, 428, 429, 437 
Bellegarde, 350 

Belon (quoted), iSo^f.n ., 1S2 f.n , 185 

Bembridge, 361 

Bermeja, Sierra de, 312, 317 

Beme, 338, 344, 345. 34S, 355 

Heine Harrier, 341 

Bernina Range, 2:6 

Berzeneze, 53 

Besana, 330 

Biarritz, 464 

Bibliotheca Accipitraria, 414 

Bidassoa, 330 

Bielovege Park. 393, 394, 396 

Bicnnc, 353, 354 

Bievre, Hunting at. Si 

Bighorn, American, 407 

Bison, 303 



INDEX 



469 



Bistrizza, 263 
Bitekly, 424 
Blackbird, 360 
Black Forest, 156, 164 

— Grouse, 25, 68, 124, 165, 227, 293, 296, 346, 410 

— Lake (Fribourg), 352 

— Mountains (Greece), 186 

— Sea, 43, 273, 422, 429 
Blackwater (Ireland), 139, 142, 381 
Blanca, Sierra, 311, 313, 317 
Blankenberghe, Sea Fishing at, 91 
Bleak, 354 

Blicquy, M. du Roy de, 82 

Blowline Fishing, 383 

Boar, Wild, 52, 84, 168, 216, 218, 226, 243, 245, 

250, 263, 267, 308, 309, 320, 321, 342, 344, 

345. 425, 429 
Boats, 77, 337, 348, 355 
Bogiati, 193 
Bohemia, 28 
Bologna, 236 
Borjom, 397 
Borke, Count, 169 
Borzoi, 407-9 
Bosnia, 29 

Bosphorus, 422, 429, 43 1 
Bouland, Baron du Sarthe de, 82 
Boulogne, 463 
Bourgas, 440, 445 
Brabant, 86, 206 
Bracciano, 236, 237 
Bracco, 7, 230 

Braganca, S. D. Caetano de, 245 
Brambilla, Count, 216 
Brandenburg, 152, 159, 169 
Breadalbane, Marquess of, 4 
Bream, 92 

— Sea, 430, 454, 457 
Brent Goose, 192 
Breslau, 160 
Brighton, 456 
Briquet, 121 

British Deer and Their Horns, 1 56 
British Isles, Sport in the, 5, 85, lit, 359-83 
" British Sea Anglers' Society," 458 
Brittany, 124, 125, 132, 142 



Brocklesby Kennels, 323 

Bromberg, Hunting at, 169 

Brook, Sir Victor (His Knowledge of Roedeer), 

373 
Brooke, Hunting at, 169 
Buccleuch, Duke of, 323 
Bucharest Jockey Club, 263 
Bucharest, Woodcock near, 272 
Buck, Mr. Walter (on Wild Spain), 317, 331 
Budapest, Hunting near, 72 

— Trophies exhibited at, 9, 50, 52 
Buenau, Count, 152 
Bukowina, 52 

Bulgaria, 6, 440 

Bulnes, 319 

Burbot, 353 

Burhel, 402, 403 

Bustard, 8, 67, 257, 269, 308, 309, 324, 446 

— Lesser, 190, 257, 271, 325, 437 
Butrinto, 191, 194, 439 

Buxton, Mr. E. N. (on Moufflon), 219 
Buyuk Chekmedjee, 426 
Buzzard, 69, 120 

Cabraes, Snr., 245 

Cabrales, 319 

Cadore, 227 

Caillard, M. Paul (on France), 5, 109 

Calais, 463 

Californian Salmon, 139 

"Calling" Roedeer, 24 

Calpe Foxhounds, 308, 322, 323 

Campagna, Foxhunting in the, 233, 234 

Campine, Rabbits in the (Belgium), 86 

Camping Out, 425 

Cancella, Dr. Paulo, 255 

Candilli, 429 

Canea, 182, 192 

Capercailzie, 4, 24, 67, 72, 163, 268, 293, 409, 

410, 442 
Capodimonte, 218 
Cafira, 405 
Capreolus, 400 

Carayon La Tour, Baron de, 7, 115, 117, 119, 121 
Carditello, 21S 
Caribou, 399 



47° 



INDEX 



Carlos I., Dom, 243, 260 

Carp, 4, 71, 3S4, 437 

Carpathians, 50, 65, 263, 266, 272, 274, 276, 396 

Casarabonela, 312 

Castellar, Sierra of, 312 

Castello Branco, 255 

Castelporziano, 216 

Castile, 10 

Castilla, 319, 324, 326 

Castres, 121 

Catalan Bay, 465 

Ca Fish, 92 

Cattegat, 8, 104 

Cat, Wild, 320, 321 

Caucasus, 9, 387, 390, 396, 400, 401, 410, 411, 

414-6 
Cayley, Mr. Digby, 380 
Cazules, 317 
Ceresole, 213 
Cerigo, Island of, 190 
Cervus, 150, 280, 399 
Cettinje, 438 
Ceuta, 312 
Chamois, 3, 10, 23, 29, 65, 157, 214, 216, 219, 

220, 264, 319, 320, 336-8, 402, 441, 442 
Chanler, Mr. Wintrop, 218 
Channel Islands, 459 
Chantilly, 1 15 
Chaoush Chiftlik, 429 

Chapman, Mr. Abel (on Wild Spain), 317, 331 
Char, 93, 304, 3S3 
Chartres, 130 

Chassart, MM. Drumont de, 82 
Chasse d la Croule, 87 
Chatelhe'rault, 141 
Chateaudin, 132, 133 
Chekmedjee, 426, 427 
Cherif Pasha, 429 
Cherkesskeui, 428 
Chenille, Marquis de, 129 
Chesterfield, Lord, 233 
Chinese Fish-culture, 143 
Chinese Use for Antlers, 398 
Chiny, Wolves in the Forest of, 85 
Christiansand, 299 
Chub, 92 



Chukchc Dog, 282 
Clay Pigeon Shooting, 206 
Climate (Turkey , 432 
Close Times — 

Belgium, 80 

British Isles, 361 

Germany, 159 

Greece, 177 

Hungary, 48 

Portugal, 241 

Roumania, 270, 276 

Russia, 389 

Scandinavia, 286, 297 

Switzerland, 336-8, 
Coal Fish, 454 
Coarse Fish, 92, 304, 383 
Coburg, Prince August, 40 
— Prince Philipp, 49 
Cod, 453, 455 
Cogne, 213 
Coin, 312 
Comanesti, 26S 
Compcta, Sierra de, 317 
Compiegne, 1 1 5 
Conger, 461 

Constance, Lake of, 157, 352, 353 
Constantinople, 420-2, 426-8, 439, 466 
Coot, 22S, 257 
Copais, Lake, 178, 192 
Coppens, Baron, 90 
Corbet, Sir Walter, 4.1,. 43 
Corfu, 178, 194, 439 
Coria del Rio, 329 
Corinth, 194 
Cornwall. 452, 453, 459 
Corsica, 130 
Cortes, Sierra of, 312 
Cost of Shooting — 

Austria, yj 

Russia, 391 

Scotland, 372 
Coto de Onana, 327 
Courge, 459 

Coursing, 73, 169, 204, 272, 409 
Crakes, 34S 
Crane, 69 



INDEX 



47 * 



Crawhez, The Barons de, 81, 82 

Crete, 10, 67, 179 f.n., 180, 182 f.n., 184, 185, 

192, 196 
Croatia, 70 
Crowland, 376 
Croy, Prince de, 90 
Cruise of the Marchesa, 407 
Csekonics, Count Andreas, 71 
Cumberland, Major (on Sport in the Pamir 

Steppes), 404 f.n. 
Curlew, 192 
Custanja, 273 
Cyprus, 180 

Dab-chick, 257 

Dace, 142 

Dachshund, 160 

Daghestan, 397, 402, 403 

Dahlen, 152 

Daimiel, 327 

Dain Kul, 406 

Danube, 43, 272-4, 437 

Dartmouth, 416 

Decoy Partridge, 193 

Dedeaghatch, 424 

Dee, Salmon in the, 379-81 

Deer, 8, 21, 23, 29, 52, 65, 83, 84, 98, 99, 151-7, 

177, 184, 186, 205, 213, 216, 218, 226, 243, 

280, 281, 288, 308-10, 336-8, 340, 344, 359, 

365. 37o, 372, 395, 396, 429, 443 
Deer of All Lands, 395 f.n. 
Deer Stalking in the Caucasus, 396 f.n. 
Deikeleia, 193 
Delos, 187 
Demidoff Prince San Donato (on Russia), 16, 

387 
Deinzly, 428 

Denmark, 4, 6, 10, 12, 97-106 
Dendre, Ide in the, 92 
Dessau, 168 

Deutsche fagdschutsverein, 148 
Deva, Salmon in the, 330 
Diana Society, The, 347 
Dietschy, M., 337 
Dietze, Herr von, 160 
Dil Bournou, 428 



Disgrazia, Mountain of the, 226 
Dobrutcha, 269, 272, 273 
Dogs, 7 

Belgium, 80, 81 

British Isles, 375 

Denmark, 102 

France, 113, 116-24, 126, 127, 129 

Germany, 161, 166 

Greece, 195 

Holland, 206 

Italy, 230 

Portugal, 245, 253 

Roumania, 271 

Scandinavia, 282 

Spain, 309, 320, 324 

Switzerland, 338 

Turkey, 420 
Dory, 454 
Doubs, 353 
Dove, 187 
Dovrefjeld, 286 
Drag, 169, 207 
Dresden, 151 
Dress, Sporting, 432 
Driving Bear, 391 

— Boar, 245 

— Chamois, 35, 158, 402 

— Deer, 396 

— Grouse, 374 

— Partridge, 161 
Dry Fly Fishing, 382 

Duck, 69, 77, 89, 103, 123, 162, 166, 205, 218, 
257. 273, 298, 309, 327, 348, 359, 361, 369, 
373, 376,4ii,4>3-425,440,446 

Dunes, 204 

Durme, Flounders in the, 94 

Eagle, 7, 69, 150, 257, 309, 414 
East Prussia, 150, 153, 156 
Edelsheim-Gynlay, Baron, 66 
Eel, 353, 439 
Eider Duck, 299 

Ekaterinburg Shooting Club, 394 
Ekersund, 297 
Elbassan, 439 
Elburz, Mount, 403 



472 



INDEX 



Elisavetpol, 414 

Elk, 3, 150, 280, 281-3, 285, 388, 389 

— Dog, 282, 289 
Ellee, River, 137-9 
Ellis, Major C. C, 221 
Elsenborn, Grouse at, 87 
Engadine, 345 

English Dogs Abroad, 113, 129 

Enos, 425 

Ephesus, 186 

Epirus, 200 

Estarreja, 256 

Esterhazy, Count Michel, 54 

Estremadura, 319-21 

Evora, 245 

Exmoor, 366 

Exmouth, 456 

Falcao, Snr. J. Paes, 7, 245 

Falconry, 206, 257, 377, 414 

Fallow Deer, 65, S3, 9S, 155, 168, 216, 21S 

Falmouth, 456 

Farmers and Foxhunting, 364 

Ferdinand, Prince (of Bulgaria), 6, 442 

Fernandes, J. Baptista, 260 

Fernan-Nunes, Duchess of, 325 

Ferret, 86, 161, 255 

Ferri, 424 

Festetics, Count Tassilo, 61, 65 

Game List of, 70 

Ficalho, Sena de, 245, 250 

— Count of, 249 

Field, The (quoted), 21, 119, 463 

Field Trials, 80, 1 27, 407 

Filey Brigg, 462 

Finisterre, 124, 132, 133, 139 

Finland, 388, 389, 414 

Firearms. 419 

Fish-hatching, 71, 134 

Fishing. See also Sea Fishing — 

Austria, 40 

Belgium, 90 

British Isles, 378 

Denmark, 106 

France, 125, 131 

Greece, 198 



Fishing — 
Holland, 207 
Hungary, 71 
Italy, 230 
Koumani.i, 274 
Russia, 414 

dinavia, 299 
Spain, 329 

Switzerland, 350 
Turkey, 430 
Fisht, Mount, 403 
Fitzwilliam Hounds, 364 
Fjelds, 2S6 
Flamingo, 7 1 
Flanders, 78 
Flat Fish, 454. 457 
Flevac Islands, 189 
Fiorina, 425 
Flushing, 78 

I'o.'i, M. (quoted), 265 f.n. 
Fogliano, Lake of, n, 228 
Fontainebleau, 1 15 
Forestry in Austria, ii 
I orgai h, Count A., 65, 73 
Four Cantons, Lake of the, 356 
Fouey, 456 
Fox, 72, S5, 100, 106, 112, 139, 14 s . 1 ' o, 168, 178, 

207, 252. 263, 267, 308, 309, 340, 341, 363-5, 

409,414 
Foxhunting, 72, Si, 1 12, 16S, 207, 233, 308, 322, 

363,407 
France, 4, 13, 109-44,463 
Francolin, 227, 414 

French Revolution, Effects of the, 20, 1 26, 151 
Freyr, Crown Forest of, 83 
Iii. in. Duke of (on Spain), 5, 7, 307 
Fribourg, Canton of, 338, 352, 355 
Friedlaender, I'.. iron Fritz, 169 
Frigiliana, Sierra de, 317 

Fucchini, Count Anton;' 
Fugger, Prince, 15S 
Fiinen, Pheasants in, 103 

Fiirstenberg, Prince, 1 56 

( ialatz, 273, - ,- 4 
Galicia, 38, 52 



INDEX 



473 



Galitzin, Prince, 407 
Galway, 381 

Gamekeepers. See Keepers 
Game Laws, 4-6 

Austria, 31 

Belgium, 78 

France, 123 

Germany, 148 

Greece, 177 

Italy, 212 

Norway, 286 

Portugal, 241 

Roumania, 265, 276 

Russia, 394 

Scandinavia, 296 

Switzerland, 337 
Game Lists, 70 
Garcia, M. de, 90 
— Serra de Penha, 245 
Garfish, 454, 455, 463 
Garganey, 348 
Gascony, Dogs of, 7, 117 
Gatchina, 393, 40S 
Gazelle, 387 
Geese, 69, 77, 166, 192, 257, 273, 298, 348, 411- 

413 
Gelderland, 205, 207 
Geldern, Count, 158 
Geneva, 341, 352 
Gennadius, Mr. (on Greece), 173 
Gennargentu, 218 
Genoa, 466 
Gerez, 250, 255 
German Fishermen, 457 
Germany, 4-6, 9, 13, 93, 133, 136, 147-69, 173, 

268, 3S8 
Emperor of Germany — 

Boar kept by the, 1 59 

Boarhounds kept by the, 168 

Record Bag of Hare made by the, 160 

Stags bagged by the, 153 
Gesso, Yal del, 216 
Ghika, Prince (on Roumania), 1 1 
Gibaja, 330 

Gibraltar, 32:, 323,465 
Gileppe, Char in the Lake of, 93 



Gillies, 372, 379 

Gindraux, M., 341 

Gironde, 117, 121, 123 

Glaireuse, 82 

Glutton, 281, 289 

Godwit, 192 

Goktcha, Lake, 416 

Gordon, Lord Granville (on the British Isles), 

6,359 
Goshawk, 377 
Graciosa, Marquis of, 255 
Graian Alps, 4 
Granada, 317 

Grayling, 93, 142, 303, 353, 382 
Grebe, 192 

Gredos, Sierra de, 317, 319 
Greece, 13, 173-200 
Grenade, Chateau de, 121 
Greyhound, 73, 253, 255, 309 
Griffons, i2i 
Grilse, 299 
Gris Nez, 463 

Grisons, 9, 338, 340, 344, 345 
Groenendael, 91 
Grossenhain, 168 
Grouse, 87, 227, 268, 295, 361, 365, 369, 372, 374, 

410 
Grublihan, 446 
Guaro, 312 

Gucville, Wolves at, 85 
Gudgeon, 142 
Gudsbrandal, 286 
Guebzeh, 428 

Guillemard, Dr. (quoted), 407 
Girfo, 281 
Gumbinnan, 169 
Guns, 79, 100 
Gurnard, 454 
Gwiniad, 304 
Gymes, 65 
Gypactos, 151 

Hainault, Partridge in, 86 
Hahnbalz, 27 
Halle, 160 
Hampshire Coast, 456 



474 



INDEX 



Handley Cross, 362 

Hano\er Foxhounds, 168 

Hardanger-Vidde, 286, 288 

Hare, io, 28, 67, 73, 86, 101, 139, 148, 160, 162, 
186, 187, 204, 205, 226, 255, 263, 267, 272, 
2 92- 3°9. 336, 34o, 341, 344, 345, 347, 372, 
375, 409. 43°, 43 8 , 439> 441, 447 

" Harling," 302 

Harriers, 168, 33S-42, 364 

Halting, Mr. J. E. (quoted), 414 

Hartz Mountains, Capercailzie in the, 164 

Hasskeui, 431 

Havre, Chevalier Wan, 90 

Hawking, 82, 174, 206, 275, 377, 414 

Hawks, 130, 257, 360 

Hazel-hen, 88, 268, 293 

Heathcock, 68 

Heeckeren, Baron W. de, 207 

Hemptinne, Count J. de, 80 

Herekly, 423 

Heron, 377 

Herrfeldt, M. A. Bary, 87 

Herring, 463 

Hesiod (quoted), 173 

Hewald, Mr., 169 

Heyden, Baron, 169 

Heyst, Sea-fishing near, 164 

Highlands, 9, 22 

Hindelrang, 150 

Hints on the Management of Hawks, 414 

Hitteren, 2SS, 2S9 

Hjerpe, 294 

Hobart Pasha, 176 fin., 427 

Hohlfeld, Forest-Director, 152 

Holies, 73 

Holland, 92, 203-S 

Holstein, Duke Ernest Guenther of, 156 

Homer (quoted), 173, 178 fin., 180, 182 fin. 

Hooghvorst, Baron d', 82 

Hooper Swan, 192 

Horns, Ibex, 182 and fin., 311, 315, 318 

Hounds. See Dogs 

Hoyos, Count Maximilian, 47 

— Count San Martin de, 319 

Huchen, or Hucho, 43 

Hughes, T. S. (quoted), 195 fin. 



Hutnain, Castle of, 90 

Humbert, The late King, 4, 214 

Hungary, 4-6, 10. 12, 24, 29, 38, 47-74, 151 

308, 309, 373 
Huningue, 134 
Hunting- 
Belgium, Si 

British Isles, 363 

Denmark, 106 

France, 1 13-22 

Germany, 151, 167 

Hungary, 72 

Italy, 233 

Portugal, 255 

Russia, 407 

Spain, 322 
Hunza, 404 
Hyena, 186 

Ibenhorst, Forest of, 150 

Ibex, 3, 4, 8, 9, 179-86, 213-6, 250, 308-19, 335, 

33 6 . 387, 4° ', 405 
Idanha, 255 
Mik, 400 

Ilmen, Lake, 11, 41 1-3 
Imbros, 189 
Inkcy, Chamois shot by Mr. A.., f>4 

— Roebuck shot by Mr. A., 58, 63 
Inn, Grayling absent from the. 353 

— Carp absent from the, 354 
Insterburg, Coursing near. 169 
Inverness-shire, 372 

Ionian Islands, 194 

Ireland, 142, 367, 369, 373, 38 1 . 3S3 

Ismidt, 422, 426-9 

Istan, 31 2 

Isubra, 398, 399 

Italian Kennel Club, 230 

Italy, 5. 7. «), 14, 211-37. 458 

Izard, 309, 320, 403 

Jackal, 178, 430 

Jack-snipe, 298 

Jacderen, 298 

Jaegers, 32 

Janee, Baron de Woot de, 90 



INDEX 



475 



Jassy, 272 

Jemtland, 296, 297 

Jerez, 325 

Jimena, Valley of, 312 

"John Bickerdyke" on Fly-fishing in the Sea, 

454 
John George II. of Saxony, Prince, 151 
Jotunfjelds, 286 
Joux, Lake of, 352 
Jura, 336, 342-6, 348 

— Harrier, 339, 341 

" Jorrocks, Mr. John " (on Sport), 362 

Kainsk District, Duck in the, 413 
Kako-Salesi, Wild Pig near, 193 
Kalmuk Hunters, 398 
Kamschatka Bear, 390 

— Salmon, 416 

— Wild Sheep, 407 

Karaiaz District, Deer of the, 396, 397 

Karakul, Lake, 404 

Karolyi,- Count Tibor, 73 

Kasbek, Burhel on Mount, 402 

Katerina, Wild Fowl near, 191 

Kattegat, 104, 302 

Kazan, Reindeer in, 399 

Keepers, 31, 149, 349 

Kempton Park, Coursing at, 368 

Kenmare, 367 

Kent Coast, 456 

Keszthely, 156 

Kiev, Roedeer from, 400 

Kilios, Quail at 422 

— Woodcock at, 428 
Killarney, 373 

Kirghiz Steppes, Hawking in the, 414 

Kisha Valley, 394, 395, 403 

Kishan District, 425 

Klein Glienecke, Kennels at, 168 

Klett, Baron Clamer, 158 

Kobdo River, 406 

Kobi, 403 

Kopfioi, 421 

Koprishtitza, 443, 445, 447 

Korthals, The Late Mr., 203 

Kouban District, Bear in the, 393 



Kouban District, Bison in the, 395 

— Deer in the, 396, 397 
Krasnovodsk, Wild Sheep of, 404 
Krushevatz, 437 

Kuchelnna, Pheasants at, 166 
Kutchuk-Chekmedjee, Lake, 430 

La Albufera, Wildfowl at, 327 
Laba River, Trout in the, 415 
Lagopus, 293 
La Hulpe, 91 
La Mancha, 327 

Lamberg, Painting by Count, 47 
Landes, The, 115, 123, 204 
Landrail, 190, 269, 271 
Lapland, 28 r, 296, 298, 303 
Lapp Hounds, 388, 392 
Lapps, 7, 11, 282, 29r, 292 
Larios, Marquis de, 322 

— Mr. P., and the Calpe Hounds, 323 
on chamois, 319 

on ibex, 10, 310 

on sea-fishing, 465 

on trout-fishing, 330 

Larissa, 193 

Laucke, Foxhunting at, 169 
Launce, 454 
Laurium, Bay of, 1 79 
Laverdale Bay, 194 
Lee-Metford Rifle, 270 
Leghorn, 459, 466 
Legislation, Sporting, 3 

Alsace, 143 

Belgium, 78 

France, 13! 

Italy, 211 

Portugal, 241 

Russia, 389 

Scandinavia, 288 

Switzerland, 337 
Leipsic, Roedeer near, 156 
Leirdal, Wading in the, 302 
Leman, Lake of, 350 
Lemnos, Rabbits in, 187 

— Red-legged Partridge in, 189 
Lenkoran, 414 



47 6 



INDEX 



Leon, Chamois in, 319 

Lero, Quail near Port, 190 

Letzlingen, Fallow Deer in the Forest of, 155 

Levadia, 1 79 

Levant, Wildfowl in the, 191 

Leverak, 430, 431 

Lezirias, Coursing in the, 255 

— Quail in the, 256 
Licences — 

Belgium, 78, 90 

Bulgaria, 440 

France, 123, 134 

Germany, 149 

Greece, 177 

Holland, 205 

Italy, 212 

Portugal, 242 f.n. 

Scandinavia, 288 

Switzerland, 335, 354 

Turkey, 420 
Lichnovsky, Prince, 166 
Lichtenstein, Principality of, 344 
Licola, Deer at, 218 
Liege, 91 

Lima, Salmon in the, 260 
Lindermayer, Dr. Anton von, 176 
Liordes, 319 
Lisbon, 241, 242 
Lissa, Foxhunting at, 169 
Littledale, Mr. St. George, 393 f.n., 399, 400, 

404 f.n., 405, 406 
Littlehampton, Sea-fishing at, 460 
Liverpool, Coursing near, 36S 
Locris, 179 
Loder, Lady, 41, 42 

— Sir Edmund, 41 

Lofoten Islands, Double Snipe in the, 298 

— Willow-grouse in the, 296 
Lombard) 1 , Pheasants in, 227 

— Snipe in, 228 
Longwy, 88 

Loo, Royal Park at, 205 
Looe, Sea-fishing at, 456 
Lorient, 138 
Lorraine, Wild Boar in, 159 

— Wolves in, 150 



LOS Bodies, 319 

Low Countries, 1 1 

Lucerne Harrier, 340 

I. in hy. Wolves in the Forest of, 85 

Lucioperca, 304 

Ludwigslust, Hunting at, 169 

Lugworm as bait, 462, 463 

Luetzenow, Coursing at, 169 

Lu/er, 430, 431 

Lu«, Dom (of Portugal 1 , 243, 245 

Lujar, Siena de, 317 

Lulworth, Sea-fishing at, 456 

Luxemburg, 91 

Lydekker, Mr. R. (on Deer), 395 f.n. 

Lynx, 6, 50, 263, 267, 268, 281, 289, 292, 309, 320 

Lys. Bream in the, 92 

Macedonia, 425 

Mai l.nel. 431, 453, 455, 463 

Ml nisos, Wild Asses on the Island of, 179 

Mdcsa, Hunting at, 73 

Madrid, 310 

Mafra, Royal Park of, 243, 253, 254, 258 

Magdeburg, Hares near, 160 

Magnesium Lamp, Suggested use of, 265 

Maidenhead, Fishing at, 383 

Mailath, Count 1.., Red Deer shot b 

— Roedecr shot by, 60 
Maina, 190 

Malaga, 312, 317 
Malakasi, Quail near^^o 

— Wild Pig near, 193 

Malhadeiro da Neta, 249, 250 

Mallard, 192 

Mallow, The River, 139 

Malme'dy, 4, 87 

Malpica, 30S f.n. 

Mandok, Hunting at. 73 

Mangualde, Abundance of Partridge nea 

Mannlicher Rifle, 155 

Manoncourt, Sonnini de, 175 

Mans, I'icne Belon du, 1 75 

Manzaneres, 327 

Maral, yjj. 

Marao, Grey Pat ti idge at, 253 

Marathon, 193 



INDEX 



477 



Marbella, 310 

Maremma, The Tuscan, 213, 227 

Maritza Plain, 425 

Marmol, Baron W. del, 80, 81 

Marmora Island, 423 

Marmora, The, 422, 428 

Marmot, 338, 344 

Marshes, Shooting in, 272, 308, 347, 427 

Marten, 263 

Matthys, L. de, 80 

Mauser Rifle, 155 

Measurements, Horn, 49, 53-60, 64, 65, 182, 

214, 316,400,444,445 
Mecklenburg, Fishing in, 463 

— Foxes in, 160 

— Grand Duke of (as M.F.H.), 169 

— Roedeer in, 156 
Medinaceli, Duke of, 308 f.n. 
Medina Sidonia, Duke of, 320 
Mediterranean, Fishing in the, 452, 459 

— Quail crossing the, 212, 228 
Meens, M. Hippolyte, 89 
Merdjian, 431, 466 
Merseburg, Hares near, 160 
Meursius (quoted), 180 f.n. 
Meuse, Barbel in the, 92 
Michael, Grand Duke, 397 
Midlands, Foxes in the, 364 
Migratory Birds, 189-91, 360 
Mijas, Sierra de, 312 
Mikhailovitch, Duke Nicholas, 414 
Milan, Hunting at, 236 

Millais, Mr. J. G. (quoted), 156 

Milos, 181, 185, 186 

Mingrelia, 403 

Minho, Coursing in the Province of, 255 

— Salmon in the River, 260 
Minsk, Elk in, 388 

" Mirliflore," a Virelade Hound, 1 16 

Mitylene, Quail in, 190 

Modrone, Duke Uberto Visconti di, 237 

Mohilev, Elk in, 388 

Mollen, Karl, 83, 206 

Molossian Dogs, 195 

Monastir, 425, 439 

Monda, 312 



Monforte, 245 

Monfortinho, 245 

Mongolia, Elk on the Borders of, 388 

— Ovis amnion in Northern, 406 
Mongolian Pheasant, 268 

Moniteur Officiel de V Union des Societes de 

Chasseurs de France, 130 
Montenegro, 438 
Montherme, 88 
Monza, Pheasants at, 218 
Moorhen, 190 
Moors, 359, 372, 374 
Morat, Lake of, 352, 354 
Moravia, 28 

Morbihan, Snipe in, 124 
Morena, Sierra, 317, 320, 321 
Morgado of Alcacovas, 245 
Moritzburg, Antlers in the Castle of, 15, 151 

— Wild Boar preserved by the German Emperor 

at, 159 
Morocco, 312 
Morren, A., 80 
Motril, Sierra de, 317 
Moufflon, 4, 65, 213, 218 
Mountain Partridge, 227, 346 

— Shooting, 33, 183, 219, 263, 308, 343, 372, 

390, 401, 410 
Mouss-Taou Range, Ovis amnion in the, 406 
Muckross, Deer Forest of, 373 
Mudeford, Salmon at, 456 
Mudela, Marquis of, 325 
Mullet, Grey, 453, 454, 460, 464, 466 
Mullingar, Lakes of, 383 
Munich, 150 
Musk Deer, 401 
Mussel as bait, 462 
Myconos, Rabbits in the Island of, 187 

Nadasdy, Count Francis, 73 

Nahitchevan, 402 

Nalon, Salmon in the, 330 

Namsen, Salmon in the, 302 

Namur, 91 

Nansa, Salmon in the, 330 

Naples, Sea-fishing at, 466 

Nauplia, 193 



47 8 



INDEX 



Navarino Harbour, 194 

Navia, Salmon in the, 330 

Neapolitan Fishermen, 457 

Nederland Club, 206 

Nerja, Sierra de, 317 

Nesus, Pheasants on the banks of the, 177 

Nethe, Flounders in the, 94 

Neubrandenburg, Hunting at, 169 

Neuchatel, 342, 343, 345, 348, 349, 35^-4 

Neufchateau, Wolves in the Forest of, 85 

Neugattersleben, 160 

Neumeister, Professor (Method of feeding Deer), 

152 
Nevada, Sierra, 310, 312, 317, 319 
Nieuport, Sea-fishing at, C4 
Nisch, Quail round, 437 
Normandy, Dog-breeding in, 126 
North Sea, Wildfowl near the, 166, 205 
Norway, 11, 106, 279-81, 285-7, 2 95> 2 99> 3° 2 > 

3°4, 37i 
Novgorod, Goose-shooting at, 8, 412 

— Red Deer in, 395 

— Reindeer in, 399 

Ober Glogau, 166 

Obidos, Lagoon of, 257 

Ochrida, Lake, 430, 439 

Odescalchi, Prince, 236 

Ogliastra, Moufflon in the Mountains of, 218 

Ojen, Mountains of, 310, 317 

— River of, 313 
Okhotsk, 398 
Ollen, 8, 396, 397 

Olsene, Hare-hunting at, 82 

Olympus, Wildfowl near Mount, 191 

Onomasticott, The, 174 

Oppersdorff, Count, 166 

Oppian (quoted), 174 

Ordoubad, 402 

Orenburg Steppes, Hawking in the, 414 

Orleans, 130 

Oropos, 193 

Ossemisse, 89 

Ostend, Sea-fishing at, 94 

Otter, 113, 114,292,345, 367 

Otter Hounds, 113, 121 



Ourthe, Parr in the, 91 
Ovadjik, 42S, 430 
Ovis, 219, 402, 404-6 
Oxen, Wild, 178 
Oxus, 404 

Pacific Ocean, Coast of the, 383, 401, 407 

Pack Animals, 198 

Paderborn, Hunting at, 169 

Pajarcs, 319 

1'alamout, 431 

Pallavicini, Markgraf Alexander, 71 ■ 

Palma, Wild Boar in, 245 

Palmella, Duquc de, 25S 

Palmitcra, Sierra, 313, 317 

Pamirs, Big Game of the, 387, 390, 401, 404, 406 

Pancas, 245 

Panagia, Harbour of, 178 

Panes, 319 

Panther, 186 

Paphos, Forests of, 180 f.n. 

Parchim, Hunting at, 169 

Pardcliana, Moufflon in the, 218 

Pardo, The, 310 

Paris Dog Show, 1 19, 127 

Paris, Comtesse de, 328 

— Game Preservers near, 1 24 

— Hunting near, 1 15 
Parr, 91 

Partridge, 28, 69, 78, 86, 101, 124, 134, 139, 161, 
204, 205, 227, 253,-263, 269, 297, 309, 346, 
369, 372,410,423,424, 441 

Pashley, R. (quoted), 182 f.n., 1S3, 196 

Pasvig, 299 

Pan, Foxhunting at, 113, 1 14, 207 

Paul de Mugem, 257, 25S 

Payton, Mr. C. (quoted), 463 

Pclagos, Island of, 1 80 

Pelican, 69, 273 

Peloponnesus, 190, 193 

Pena Sabra, 319 

— Santa, 319 
\ ieja, 319 

Penas de Bulnes, 319 
Penha, Sena de, 245 
Pentewan, 456 



INDEX 



479 



Pera, 428 

Perdix, 187, 228 

Peregrine, 377 

Pernik, 441 

Persia, 180, 414 

Perthshire, 365, 372 

Peterborough, 364, 376 

Peterman, 208 

Petersburg, 407, 410 

Petit, M. A. (on Trout), 140 

Petnokhory, 428 

Petrokhan, 443 

Pevensey, 456 

Pfeil, Count, 162 

Phalerum, Bay of, 200 

Pheasant, 29, 69, 100, 103, 106, 148, 204, 205, 218, 

227, 347, 369, 370, 374, 375, 410, 414, 424, 444 
Philippopolis, Wild Cats near, 446 
Picacho de Valeta, 319 
Picos de Europa, 10, 319 
Piedmont, 218 
Piers, Fishing from, 453 
Pigeon, 257 
Pigeon shooting, 112 
Pigsticking, 159, 308 
Pike, Mr. Arnold (quoted), 393 f.n. 
— 8, 92, 106, 142, 207, 208, 304, 352, 353, 383, 437 
Pike-perch, 94, 304 
Pilchard as bait, 459 
Pintail, 348 
Pisa, 216 

Pitard, Dr. (on Switzerland), 10, 335 
Piz Torena, 322 
Plaice, 454. 462, 463 
Plains, Shooting in the, 269, 308, 347 
Platila, Marsh of, 292 
Plavati, 424 

Plover, 190, 257, 359, 411 
Plymouth, 456, 460 
Poachers, 5, 30, 79, 136, 139, 143, 147, 159, 329, 

349, 382 
Pochard, 192 
Podencos, 309, 320 
Podengos, 7, 246, 247, 249, 254 
Podgoritza, Woodcock near, 438 
Pointers, 197, 296, 420 



Poitou, Hunting in, 121 

Poland, 393 

Polar Bear, 387, 390, 393 

Polecat, 139 

Poliana Forest, 187 

Pollack, 453 

Pollenza, 218 

Pollux, Julius (quoted), 174 

Pomerania, Hunting in, 169 

Pontine Marshes, 213, 226 

Pontresina, 226 

Pont Scorff, 142 

Porbeagle Shark, 459 

Porpoise, 77, 166 

Portalegre, Serra de, 253 

Portugal, 5, 8-10, 14, 241-60 

Posen, 148 

Potes, 319 

Potsdam-Grunewald Hounds, 168 

Pottinger, Sir Henry (on Scandinavia), 6, 279 

Pouldu, 137, 138 

Prasteo, 424 

Preservation of Game, 124, 149, 308, 394 

Preserved Waters, 90 

Prevesa, 439 

Primkenau, 156 

Proekelwitz, 156 

Prussia, 148, 205 

Ptarmigan, 227, 293, 294, 346 

Punt-gun, 78, 166, 205, 348 

Pyrenees, 10, 113, 317 

Pyrgos, 428 

Quadt, Count, 158 

Quail, 69, 123, 189, 190, 212, 22S, 256, 271, 275, 

326, 347, 422, 437, 440 
Queiroz, General, 255 
Quimperle River, 137, 142 
Quimperle, Woodcock near, 124 
Quinet, M., 89 

Rabbit, 67, 77, 78, 86, 139, 161, 187, 204, 205, 

226, 250, 253, 254, 272, 309, 324, 376, 423 
Racconigi, Pheasants at, 218 
Racing Stables, 1 12 
Radcliffe, Mr. C, 83 



480 



INDEX 



Radde, Dr. (quoted), 403, 404, 416 

Rails, 348 

Rainbow Trout, 4, 91 

Rallye-Waergerhem Harriers, 81 

Rambouillet, Hunting at, 115 

Randonatschen, Coursing' at, 169 

Rangifer, 286 

Rannoch Forest, 365 

Raverschoot, Baron Piers de, 82 

Real, Sierra, 313 

Records of Big Game, Ward's (quoted), 2 1 4, 405-6 

Redcar, Coursing at, 368 

Red Deer, 3, 9, 21, 56, 83, 151, 168, 178, 205, 

218, 243, 2S8, 309, 337, 338, 342, 344, 365, 

366, 370, 395, 425, 442 
Red-legged Partridge, 124, 188, 227, 253, 423 
Redshank, 192 
Reeves' Pheasant, 268 
Reichenhall, 157 
Reindeer, 3, 281, 286, 287, 399 
Reinosa, 319 

Renard, Count Zschirschky, 161, 166 
Rent of German Shooting, 149 
Retrievers, 204 
Revolution, Effects of Austrian, 20 

— Effects of French, 4, 1 26, 151 
Rheinfelden, 337 

Rhine, Fishing in the, 350, 351, 353, 354 

— Provinces, 159 
Rhodes, 186 
Rhodope, The, 441, 443 
Rhone, Fishing in the, 350, 353 
Rieka, 439 

Rifles, 23, 79, 155, 159, 270 

Rilo, 441-3, 447 

Riofrio, 309, 310 

Roach, 142, 354 

Robiano, Count de, 80 

Roccagiovine, The Marquis L. di, 233 

Rock-doves, 187 

Rockets for scaring Pigeons, 257 

Rock-fish, 454 

Rocky Mountains, 371 

Roedeer, 9, 23, 84, 99, 114, 115, 155, 162, 205, 
207, 216, 250, 263, 267, 268, 280, 309, 310, 
336-8, 340, 341, 344, 345, 373, 400, 429, 
43°, 439- 441, 442 



Rome, 233, 236, 237 

il, 286 
Ronda, 3 1 2 

— Sierra de, 317 

Roosevelt and Grinnell 8£n. 

Roros, 286 

Rosee, M. de, 81 

Ross-shire, 372 

Roumania, 4, S-10, 263, 275 

Royal Nimrod Club Holland), 206 

Ruble, Baron de, 1 17 

Rudolf, The late Crown Prince (quoted), 176 f.n., 

194 f.n. 
Ruff, 411 

Rupel, Flounders in the, 04 
Ruppersdorf, Pheasants at, 166 
Russia, 9, 16, 153, 162, 387-416 
Ryfylke, 286 
Ryper, 295, 296 

Sab tie sos, 7, 324 

Sado, 256, 258 

Saeffingen, 89 

Saes, Henri, 89 

Sagra, 319 

St. Andre" de Melides, 257 

St. Elias, Mount, 181 

St. Hubert, Royal Society of, 80 

— Stag of, 83 

St. Hubert's Day, 168 

St. Petersburg. See Petersburg 

St. Rossore, 216 

Saintongc, Dogs of, 7, 82 

Sajos, 319 

Samoyed, 282 

San Ildefonso, 330 

San Roque, 323 

San Stefano, 422 

S. Suzana, 245 

Salamanca, 10, 329 

Salisbury Plain. Hawking on, 377 

Salmon, 91, 106, 133, 137-9, 141, 142. 200, 207 

260, 299-303, 308, 329, 330, 350, 36;,. 

378-82, 416 
Salonica, 187, 190-2 
Salvaterra dos Magos, 257 



INDEX 



481 



Salzburg, 33 

Samakov, Capercailzie at, 442, 443 

Sander, 93 

Sand-eels, 454 

— fish, 454 

— grouse, 190 
Santa Maura, 194 
Santander, 319, 320, 325 
Sapal do Tejo, 255 
Sarambey, Partridges at, 447 
Saratov, 388 

Sarattoff, 408 

Sardinia, 213, 218, 226, 228 

Sarre, Castle of, 216 

Saurma, Count, 166 

Save, Pike in the, 437 

Saxony, John George II. of, 151 

— King of (Stags shot by), 153 

(Wild Boar preserved by), 1 59 

Scad, 454 

Scandinavia, 3, 6, 14, 279-304 

Scaup, 192 

Schaffhausen, Falls of, 350, 351 

Scheer de Weerde, 89 

Scheibler, Count F. (on Italy), 211 

Scheldt, 77, 89, 92, 194 

Schlobitten, Count Dohna, 1 56 

Schonberg, Baron D. (on Germany), 10, 147 

Schooten, 89 

Scolopax, 298 

Scombri, 431 

Scorff, Salmon in the, 138, 139 

Scoter, 192 

Scotland, 6, 88, 359, 361, 364, 365, 369, 371, 372, 

373, 381, 383 
Scutari, 430, 439 

-Sea Fishing, 94, 1 25, 1 42, 1 99, 208, 304, 430, 45 1 -66 
Seal, 8, 77, 104, 166, 292 
Sea-trout, 299, 329 

Second Empire, Sport under the, 109 
Segovia, 309, 321, 326, 329 
Segugio, 7, 231 
Seine, Yachting on the, 115 
Sella, Salmon in the, 330 
Semiretchinsk, 405 
Semoy, 8S 



Serebrianka, Reindeer in, 399 

Serge, The Grand Duke, 1 1,393, 394, 397, 4° 2 , 403 

Sermoneta, Duke of, 11, 228 

Serpa, Serra of 5 250 

Servia, 437 

Setters, 197, 296, 343, 420 

Seven Years' Big Game Shooting, 211 f.n. 

Seville, Goose-shooting near, 8, 328 

Shark, 459 

Sheep, Wild, 407 

Sheremeteff, Count, 408 

Shirley, Mr. S. E., 80 

Shooting Rights, 48, 97 

Shorfhaide, Deer in the Forest of, 155 

Short Stalks, 2 1 9 

Shoveller, 348 

Sierra Nevada. See Nevada, etc. 

Siberia, 268, 387, 388, 390, 393, 400, 405, 410, 413 

Siguenza, 326 

Sik, 304 

Silesia, 148, 156 

Sincay, M. de, Si 

Sinekly, 425 

Sirvissar, 186 

Skernewitz, 396 

Skov-rype, 294 

Skumbi, 439 

Smolen, 295 

Smyrna, 186 

Snipe, 8,69, 88, 104, 162, 190, 194, 205, 218, 228, 
253, 297, 3°9, 327, 347, 348, 359, 36i, 373, 
376, 41 1, 425, 426, 439, 440, 446 

Snow, Boars tracked in the, 159 

Soam, Prince Albert de, 80 

Sociedad de Caza, 323 

Societe de Chasse, 81 

Sofia, 441, 446 

Sogn, 302 

Sognefjord, 286 

Soleure, 345, 347 

Somerset, 113 

Soria, 326 

Sourbrondt, 87 

Southampton Water, 456, 460 

Spa, 82 

Spain, 5, 15, 307-31 



4^2 



INDEX 



Spala, 396 

Spaniels, 296, 420 

Sperchios, 189 

Spessart, Boars in the, 1 59 

Sphakia, Ibex of, 180 

Spinone, 7, 230, 231 

Spratt, Captain T. A. B. (quoted), 1S4 

Springe, Boar preserved at, 159 

Stag. See Red Deer 

Stag Hounds, 82. 113, 207 

Stanovoi Range, 401 

Stargard, Coursing at, 169 

Starzensky, Count, 441, 442 

Statistics, Game, 70, 71, 89, 2S1 

Stavanger, 286, 288, 297 

Stirum, Count dc, 207 

Stoat, 148 

Stolberg, Prince, 159 

Stour, 456, 460 

Straeten, Baron Van der, 90 

Strandja, 425 

Stroganoff, Count, 407 

Stupinigi, Pheasants at, 218 

Styria, 27, 41 

Suffolk, Sea-fishing in, 462 

Sunium, Cape, 189 

Surpi, Port, 193 

Sussex, Coast of, 451 

Svanetia, 403 

Swan, 166, 192, 205, 298, 412 

Sweden, 11, 162, 279-81, 285, 295-7 

Swiss Harrier, 339 

Switzerland, 6, 10, 15, 93, 136, 173, 335-56 

Szechenyi, Count Geza (on Hungary), 6, 9, 47 

Tagdumbash Pamirs, 404 

Tagus, Barbel in the, 329 

— Wild-fowling on the, 257 

Taiga, 388, 394 

Tambov, 38S 

Tangier, Pigsticking near, 308 

Tarifa, Sea-fishing near, 465 

Taloi, 193 

Taxis, Prince, 1 5S 

Teal, 89, 176 f.n., 192, 205 

Teign, Bass-fishing in the, 461 



Teignniouth, 456 

Tejada, Siena, 317 

Tcleki, Count Arpad, 10, 65 

Telescope for Stalkers, 370 

Tenos, 190 

Tessin, Poaching in, 349 

Tetra,\ 293, 411 

Texel, 205 

Tharandt Forest Academy, 152 

Thasos, 190 

Therapia, 42S 

Thdriso, 183 

Thessaly, 187 

Thielc Canal, 353 

Thrace, 176 f.n. 

Thurgo> ie 1 larrier, 342 

Ticino, Grayling in the, 353 

Tiflis, 397 

Tinguy, M. de, 121 

Tirnovo, 447 

" Tok," 409 

Toledo, 320, 321 

Tolox, Sierra de, 312, 317 

Topsidereh, Park of, 437 

Torrecilla, Marquis de la, 319, 325 

Toula, 408 

Tournefort (quoted), 175, 196 

Touzla, 42S 

Transylvania, 10, 29, 51 

Travels and Researches in Crete, 184 

Travels in Greece and Albania, 195 f.n. 

Travels in the East, 194 f.n. 

Trebana, 3, 19 

Trocadcro Aquarium, Paris, 139 

Trondhjcm, 295 

Trotus Valley, 263 

Trout, 4, 40, 71, 91, 106, 125, 132. 133, 142, 200, 

207, 230, 260, 274, 299, 303, 308, 329, 330, 

331, 352, 382,415,439.44 = 
Trumpeters, 257 
Tuni Svict Bog, 440 
Tunny, 465 
Tur, 403 
Turbot, 462 

Turkestan, 387, 401, 404, 405, 414 
Turkey, 6, 272, 4'9~34, 466 



INDEX 



483 



Turtle-dove, 258 

Tuyll, Baron F. W. de (on Holland), 203 

Tweed, 6 

Tyrol, 27, 29, 33, 43, 148, 157, 227 

Tyrone, 369 

Ural Mountains, 390, 393, 399, 400, 410, 416 

Valais, 344-6 

Valders, 286 

Val d'Europa Marsh, 194 

Valencia, 327 

Valkenswaard, 206 

Valsain, 321, 330 

Valsavaranche, 213 

Valtellina, 220, 226 

Van Lennep, The Messrs., 186 f.n. 

Varanger Fjord, 299 

Van, 1 89 

Vaud, 338, 343 

Verde, River, 313 

Vermin, 148 

Verneugen, Canal of, 92 

Vernoje, 405 

Vesteraalen, 296 

Vienne, Fishing Rights in the, 141 

Villamanrique, 11, 328 

Villa Vigosa, Park of, 243, 253 

Villers Cottrets, Hunting at, 115 

Virelade Hounds, 11 5- 21 

Vladivostok, 398-400 

Vlieland, 205 

Vliet, Mr. G. J. van der, 206 

Volos, 191, 193 

Vorarlberg, 344 

Vulture, 150, 257, 309 

Wagram, Prince de, 127 
Wapiti, 151 
Wareham, 83 
Warnemiinde, 463 
Warnow, 463 
Waterhen, 348 
Waterloo Cup, 368 
Weasel, 139 
VVels, 354 



Wernigerode, Boar at, 159 

Westphalia, Boar in, 159 

Whistling Duck, 257 

Whiting, 453, 454, 457 

Whittall, Sir W., 430 

Whyte Melville (quoted), 363, 378 

Wigeon, 12, yy, 89, 257, 348 

Wilcocks, The late J. C, 459 

Wild Cat, 263, 267, 309, 320 

Wild Fowl, 11, 13, 69, 77, 81, 88, 123, 124, 165, 
191, 205, 228, 257, 273. 298, 327, 348, 359, 
361, 369, 411, 425, 439, 445, 446 

Wildschaden, 37 

Wild Spain, 307 

Wild Turkey, 68 

Willow Grouse, 293-5 

Wiltshire, Rabbits in, 376 

Windsor, Carted Deer near, 367 

Winter, Bird-life in, 360 

Wolf, 52, 85, 150, 252, 263, 267, 268, 281, 289, 

3°9, 3 21 
Wolverene, 281 
Woodcock, 12, 68, 87, 123, 124, 130, 162, 176 

f.n., 190, 194, 204, 205, 228, 258, 269, 272, 

298, 3°9> 327, 347, 348, 359, 376, 41 1, 427, 

438, 439, 441, 446 
Wyneghem, 90 

Xenophon (quoted), 173, 174, 190 

Yachting on Lake Balaton, 74 
Yachting on the Seine, I [ 5 
Yamboli, 444 
Yarem Bourgos, 427 
Ymuiden, Sea-fishing at, 208 
Yorkshire Grouse, 359 

Zaisan, Lake, 405 

Zante, 194 

Zeeland, 205 

Zelentchouk River, Trout in the, 413 

Zenoff, Mr. D., 444, 445 

Ziller, 43 

Zinneberg, Count Max Arco, 1 50 

Zsuk, Hunting at, 73 

" Zubr," 393 

Zurich, Fishing in the Lake of, 352, 353 




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